Theft Of The Community’s Voice

One of the most noticeable successes of the campaign to halt the development of an intrusive and massive tower at Commercial & Venables has been the large number of lawn signs that are festooned across the neighbourhood — a clear indication of the community’s support.

Unfortunately, another continuing feature of the campaign has been the number of lawn signs that get stolen. Who knows who by? Though presumably it is someone who doesn’t want to see the campaign succeed.  Over the last year we have lost about a hundred signs;  the sign outside my own place has been stolen or damaged three times.

We had hoped that this juvenile behaviour — anti-democratic and anti-free speech at its heart — would pass like a phase in an adolescent’s growth.  But it seems the perpetrators are still determined to expose their childish sides. I received an email this morning from a correspondent just one block east of the Drive:

“for the 7th time, all the signs on our block were stolen last night sometime between 7pm and 11pm.  Perhaps it is a reflection of the Tower Proponents  way of operating –  repeated THEFT OF SIGNS, THEFT OF THE COMMUNITY’S VOICE, then finally THEFT OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.”

It is hard to disagree with those sentiments.