Scott:

Tonight I will be at Burton Village Council meeting again, and again about the tree issue, below is my prepared statement.  Attached are the studies and documents supporting the position.

       At the beginning of June I sent a letter to Burton Village Council and Mayor Tom Blair about the issue of the untrimmed trees blocking the sign for my business, as well as the rest of the merchants on N. Cheshire Street. The next day we say council and tree commission members walking the street and looking at the trees. On June 17th the Aroborist hired by Burton Village finally came to trim the trees on North Cheshire Street that had not been trimmed at all in the 10 years since they were planted. It seemed that village council and the tree commission were finally responding to the concerns of some merchants that our signs were being blocked by the trees, and the decreased visibility was impacting our businesses. After attending the tree commission meeting the prior week where we were assured that this trim job would help, it seems that the reality was no increase in the visibility of our signs for most of the merchants. Before and since the trim job that was supposed to help I get the same comments over and over from customers who do manage to find us. Comments like, “I knew you were here somewhere but I couldn't find you because the trees are blocking your sign”. We get customers calling that have driven past and cannot find us. Those are the folk who know where we are from some other advertising. If they are unable to find us, then the sign is clearly innefective at it's primary function, attracting new customers. I have given you copies of several documents, including a study from the University Of Georgia by Ken Wolfe, and from the United States Small Business Administration by R. James Klause, PhD. They are filled with data proving my point that the obstruction of our sign is hurting our business. Two excerpts from the S.B.A. Document are particularly telling, one talks about federal and state court cases that set precedent for business's signs to be protected under the 1st amendment, but the one that makes my point most clearly is:
On premises signs serve 6 primary functions,
#5. To promote traffic safety by notifying motorists where they are in relation to where they want to go, and assisting their entry to the premises, should they decide to stop. However, a
sign cannot successfully perform this function unless it can be detected and read by a motorist in sufficient time to appropriately react in traffic.

That is the clearest most simple explanation of why my business as well as the others in our historic district are losing customers because our signs are not clearly visible from the street to passing motorists.

It seems that our village officials just do not care about this issue. Why should they? Because this village council was elected to look out for the best interests of the residents and merchants of this town. You are failing in that responsibility. I have pointed this out before, but it seems to fall on deaf or uncaring ears. Our town, like so many others these days, has budget problems. The merchants are the foundation of the towns tax base. If we are losing customers, we are losing revenue, and the village is losing tax revenue. By refusing to act in the best interest of the merchants on this issue you are all failing in your responsibility to the residents of this community.

Is our historic district different from others on this issue? Yes, as I have pointed out before, other towns manage their trees so the business's signs are visible. Simply look at the pictures from Chargin Falls and Chardon and you can see the difference. Go there and you can watch the higher rate of walk in customers. Chardon by the way has the same trees. Another town with the same trees is Lakewood, (sorry it's a long drive, and I don't have pictures from there) tightly spaced like ours, with trunks nearly the same size, but the lower branches have been cut off so the signs can be seen under the canopy, while the tree still looks very nice, and provides shade.

It has been pointed out to me, by village council member Charlie, that since the trees were neglected for so long, this is just the first step in getting them under control, and the arborist will be back next year. I do not have a year to wait. I am working to build a business in our community NOW. We need our sign visible NOW, not in a year. I need to give this new business every opportunity at success NOW, not in a year. All the merchants on what most of us think of as main street deserve best that can be done NOW, not in a year.

Speaking of main street, Linda Swaney mentioned to me that there is interest in getting Burton involved in the Main Street America program promoted by the National Trust For Historic Preservation. The program in a nutshell focuses on preserving historic main streets by helping the businesses there succeed. Specifically mentioned in their four point approach as something important for success are the businesses SIGNS!

This is a simple problem to fix, send the village employees up, and tell them to remove some lower branches from the trees. Live up to your responsibilities, and get it done.

--  Matthew Mesarchik     geaugapowersports@gmail.com
Geauga Power Sports