Gainesville, there is a blight upon you. There is a scourge upon us. I am writing of a crime most injurious and offensive.
Indeed, I am writing today to condemn the practice of illegal advertising.
Perhaps you have seen these abominations along Archer and Old Archer roads (there's an Old Archer?). You shall mark the red and the blue, the furious horizontal, the ignominious flag of a dreadful fleet - a fleet that is "Now Hiring Drivers."
I have singled out a specific pizza delivery company because of the frequency of its offenses. Along this particular road, specifically between 23rd Terrace and 34th Street, there are, at my count, at least four advertisements placed in the median or alongside public roads.
There are other ads, though: buyers of cars, gold and homes. You will find the criminals stuck to telephone poles, too - an awful omen for the justice that will eventually befall them.
Are a few advertisements on the side of the road as serious as I claim? Of course not.
The corporate pizza giant's signs are not that unsightly - though I think they are disgusting.
And four signs (in a short span of road) have a relatively small environmental impact, assuming they are ever collected - most likely by Code Enforcement on taxpayers' dime.
But there is a larger issue underlying my complaints: that of the privatization of public space.
A company's use of public land for advertising must be viewed as theft, and as citizens we must be vigilant.
I suppose it may be tempting to extend my "eyesore" argument to the Crossing Paths exhibit. Suffice it to say, not everyone enjoyed the exhibit.
Regardless, there is an absolutely necessary difference: One act was a public use of public (and private) lands, the other an unauthorized use of public lands for commercial interests.
Crossing Paths was funded in part by the Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency, a publicly funded group.
Public space is for public use. Had the pizza company in question commissioned the finest artists from across the world to construct the finest work to advertise low prices or open positions, I would still feel the same: Public space is for public use.
I will not dare to compare a roadside or median to Yellowstone or to even a lesser deity such as the Ocala National Forest. But those spaces we hold in common must be protected as such.
When you see a painted advertisement for a luxury apartment complex on 34th Street (you know the developers; at least you will soon), remember my words. Regard these "guerrilla marketers" as they are, insurgents attacking that which is yours and mine.
Ryan Fenton graduated from UF with a degree in English.
