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Letter to the editor

Push for signs not dead yet

Cleveland Street business owners, rebuffed once by the council, will try again Thursday.

By MIKE DONILA, Times Staff Writer
Published January 15, 2008

Business owners along Cleveland Street in Clearwater would like the city to allow them to use sandwich signs. The signs were allowed during an 18-month rehab project downtown.
	[Jim Damaske | Times]

CLEARWATER - Cleveland Street business owners say the newly revitalized downtown thoroughfare is missing one element: sandwich board signs.

The signs are banned in the city, although during the $10-million Cleveland Street rehab project, local leaders allowed them.

But once the 18 months of construction wrapped up in December, they had to come down.

Now, owners have begun petitioning city leaders, asking them to change the ordinance because they say the signs increase foot traffic through their doors. But the City Council declined to act on the issue during a work session Monday, saying the businesses have enough ways to advertise and don't need the sandwich signs.

The owners, though, aren't giving up, and plan to raise the issue at Thursday's council meeting.

"There were some positive responses, so we're going to continue to push the issue," said Doc Shillington, co-owner of the Rabbit Hole, a health food cafe.

More than 25 of Cleveland Street's roughly 35 business owners signed petitions and gave them to City Hall in the past few weeks. And while council members Monday opted not to pursue the issue, the signs did have some support.

Council member Paul Gibson and Vice Mayor John Doran said they favored the signs, but questioned whether permitting them on Cleveland would set a precedent allowing citywide use. They also said they were concerned about regulating the size, content and form of the signs.

"I don't have a problem with the signs as long as they don't look low class," Gibson said.

Another council member, Carlen Petersen, though, said she does not support them.

She said she likes the "much cleaner look" a street has without the signs and said "enforcement could be an issue."

Council members also noted the city allows business owners to place menu boards in their windows and hang smaller signs under their awnings.

In the upcoming months, the Downtown Development Board also plans to place two directory signs on Cleveland, guiding visitors to the street's businesses.

But business owners who endured months of heavy construction, which some say resulted in a few shops closing permanently, say that might not be enough, and they need every little bit of help they can get right now.

"I think at this time we should have some freedom to attract as many customers as we can," said Rene Symmes, 45, who helps run the popular Cleveland Street Cafe.

Last summer, the city began work on the streetscaping project, a move Clearwater leaders said would create a pedestrian-friendly environment and help lure new businesses.

The work spanned the four-block stretch of Osceola Avenue to Myrtle Avenue.

The city said by spending the money it would prove the city was serious about revitalizing a tired downtown area that has long remained dormant except for the activity from several government and Scientology buildings.

About 40 percent of the street's storefronts are currently vacant.

[Last modified January 14, 2008, 22:30:52]