Do it and apologize later (or pay the fine)

I think I told the story before, but that big condo sign story reminded me of a couple years ago when a developer commandeered our neighborhood. They're still here mucking things up, but at that time, they erected a huge marble sign out front on South Bayshore Drive. It was huge, it looked like two tombstones put together. The neighbors were horrified. I had people coming up to me to discuss it. Our quiet North Grove neighborhood was now being announced to the world with a huge sign.

I called code enforcement and was told that the sign was illegal and that it had to come down. They told me the developer claimed it was a 30 day political sign, you know, the type you put on the lawn - a sign on a stick.

So I hung up with the lady and went out, three minutes later, there was the developer landscaping the sign now! The double tombstone was getting plantings around it.

I yelled out of the car window, not rudely, just to get their attention - "Hey guys, that sign is illegal, you're wasting your time making it look pretty, it has to come down!"

The guy in charge there told me they had a permit. Yet, he scrolled around on his phone for a bit, but never did show me the permit, which I guess was the 30 day political sign permit.

To make a long story short, we were out there for an hour or more arguing and as neighbors drove in and out of the neighborhood, they yelled things to him like, "Take that freaking billboard down!" and things like that.

Eventually the sign came down, but I guess the old saying goes, "Do it and apologize (or take it down) later."