‘Signs Of Our Times’ – A New Niagara At Large Series On Signs That Say Something Good, Bad, Maddening Or Crazy About The Times We Live In

 By Doug Draper

Niagara At Large is launching a new off-and-on-and-whenever-we happen-get-a-good-submission’ series that speaks to the good, bad and ugly across our binational Niagara region called “Signs Of Our Times.”

Signs of the Times photo by Bob Liddycoat

And when we say signs, we are talking about real signs up on poles, a billboard, on a picket line or displayed on a lawn or wall somewhere that you happen to spot in your communities and can share an image of with Niagara At Large. Send us a digital image of the sign; along with a bit of commentary on why you feel whatever message the sign conveys ranges from something that may be great for our communities, to something that is sad, disgusting or absurd.

We are starting this ‘Sign Of The Times’ series with an image of a cluster of signs captured by Bob Liddycoat, now a Wainfleet, Ontario resident and old journalism colleague of mine, taken on Ormond Street in his old hometown of Thorold, Ontario. You may have viewed them already on the right, up-hand side of this column. In Bob’s note on this one, he mentioned “three billboards from three levels of government telling us what a wonderful job they’re doing – all at our expense. …

“And if this is just one stretch of one street in one town in Canada,” added  Bob, “imagine what they’re wasting across the country.”

What are they wasting, indeed!

Three signs on one street within a few hundred feet of each other, from the federal, provincial and local governments, all trumpeting their contributions to the same sanitary sewer and watermain project that has been needed desperately needed to replace the decaying pipes on this street for some time, and all paid for with our taxdollars.

And they are going to the extra trouble of posting signs making sure that we all know they are spending our taxdollars on this project. Well, what a magnanimous gesture on their part.

Except that in the case of Canada’s federal government at least – and remember, this is supposed to be a Stephen Harper Conservative government that is hell bent on cutting taxes and spending – it has reportedly spent somewhere between $5- and $45-million just on signs alone – running up a bill of at least $800 per sign on streets like this in Thorold – to let us all know how generous they are with our money.

And the punch line is this. According to several newspapers across the country, Harper and his gang contracted a U.S. firm to design its ‘Action Plan’ sign for projects that are supposed to be stimulating jobs in the Canadian economy. Sort that out.

Please share your thoughts on these signs of the times and whatever side of the Ontario/New York side of the greater Niagara region you live on, please feel free to share your images of signs for future discussion and debate in Niagara At Large.

(Click on www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary of interest and concern to our greater Niagara Region.)