Electronic sign for Maplewood Town Hall

Sometimes, folks will complain about lack of transparency when they're stuck in a false narrative.

A sign on the lawn is a sign on the lawn. People driving will see it, people walking in will see it. It will cost ~$30,000 once and will have some use over some time.

Will it be good for emergencies? Will it inform non-English speakers? Will it mass snail-mail the elderly? Anything you'd like to add is your narrative - careful what you pack.

royg,

I am missing your point(s).

royg said:

Will it be good for emergencies? Will it inform non-English speakers? Will it mass snail-mail the elderly? Anything you'd like to add is your narrative - careful what you pack.

The sign may be of use in some emergencies but not during those which keep people in their homes.  It will only inform non-English speakers if it repeats its message in a language they can understand.  It will do nothing to inform the illiterate regardless of the language they speak and will be of no help to the blind. It will not be able to send mail or any kind to anyone.  
Those who favor such a sign see it as part of an effort to communicate rather than the sole tool used for such communication.  It will likely be used more to advertise events, dates, and times than to send out any meaningful emergency messages.  
The question under discussion is whether such a sign will make a sufficiently meaningful contribution to the communication effort to be worth the time, effort, and cost.  Most posters to this thread have taken the position that it will not.

Interesting that anyone can read anyone else's mind

If that contention is true,  why do we need any kind of sign

There must be a phrase for this sort of thing?

someone said: clarify your point

another person said: I don't understand your point

yet another person said: if that's true, list your sources

It's sort of what climate change denialists do to scientific researchers, they attempt to override rational discussion by sandblasting them down with questions about minutiae, until the the argument turns into "Why did you give up answering my questions". Is there a debate logical fallacy type name for this underhanded tactic? 

I don't believe it would make a meaningful contribution. Anyone who isn't reading the local paper, or visiting the Village Green, or the township website, or relevant pages on Facebook, or MOL, or who hasn't signed up for the township emails probably isn't going to look at a sign.

joan_crystal said:

royg said:

Will it be good for emergencies? Will it inform non-English speakers? Will it mass snail-mail the elderly? Anything you'd like to add is your narrative - careful what you pack.

The sign may be of use in some emergencies but not during those which keep people in their homes.  It will only inform non-English speakers if it repeats its message in a language they can understand.  It will do nothing to inform the illiterate regardless of the language they speak and will be of no help to the blind. It will not be able to send mail or any kind to anyone.  
Those who favor such a sign see it as part of an effort to communicate rather than the sole tool used for such communication.  It will likely be used more to advertise events, dates, and times than to send out any meaningful emergency messages.  
The question under discussion is whether such a sign will make a sufficiently meaningful contribution to the communication effort to be worth the time, effort, and cost.  Most posters to this thread have taken the position that it will not.

The Township has been using a portable, temporary message sign for various purposes.  Is there any survey information about how useful that has been?  It would seem like that would be helpful, before deciding whether or not a permanent sign should be installed.

I wonder if that portable sign is rented or owned by the township.

TC just decided against the permanent sign outside of Town Hall.

They are interested in spending the $30,000 on additional mobile emergency signs.

Thanks for posting.  There seems to be no video feed of the meeting tonight.

galileo said:

I wonder if that portable sign is rented or owned by the township.

Town owns one.

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Thank goodness they voted it down.  Thanks to our leaders.

And thanks to the clear input of our citizens.  btw they are not "leaders", they are elected representatives.  Thanks to the TC for listening.

On a different point, have they really vetted the cost estimate?  How much did the CHS sign cost?  $30K seems high to me.

MikeSummersgill said:

TC just decided against the permanent sign outside of Town Hall.

They are interested in spending the $30,000 on additional mobile emergency signs.

So nstead of spending 30 grand on an electronic sign they decided to spend 30 grand on electronic signs.

Current proposal is to purchase one or more mobile signs with the money set aside for a single fixed sign.  Number of signs and size of each sign to be determined.