It may not be as exciting or as dramatic as news events need to be, but things will just go from bad to worse if not addressed.
What follows relates to putting a live frog in a pot of cold water and then slowly but surely boiling the water.
The frog becomes so complacent that it gets boiled live without realising it should leave the pot.
We live in a blessed environment with tree-lined suburbs and greenery all around us.
But this is spoilt by reckless signage that is in contravention of city by-laws.
Nothing is being done. Beautiful trees are being plastered with all kind of signs to advertise some or other service.
In Old Johannesburg Road, a half-a-kilometre of once beautiful blue gum trees are littered with red signs.
Irene trees are now being littered with signs nailed to the trees, including the area near the once-beautiful 4-way stop.
Some food for thought: there was a time that Irene station held the prize for the most beautifully kept railway station in South Africa.
Then there are the council-owned lamp posts – all abused by illegal signs, some of which are blatantly offensive.
Each sign has the contact details of the perpetrator. All the council needs to do is to call the culprits and give them 24 hours to remove their signs or face prosecution.
That is not so hard to do and will take no less than an hour of an official’s time.
Please may we request that our new councillors take this matter up with urgency and concern since complacency is destroying our environment.
Dr Andre Parker
