Katz urges for sign reduction

Temple Beth Israel Rabbi Jonathan Katz has been urging the town for years to assist him in his quest to reduce the number of signs that the Florida Department of Transportation places along Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Katz made the request and a brief presentation to the Longboat Key Town Commission again at its April 20 Goals and Objectives workshop, noting there’s a variety of signs alone that outline what organizations adopt certain portions of the state highway for cleanup duty and some portions of the road are still up for adoption.

During the discussion, Town Manager Dave Bullock began to chuckle and interrupted the discussion to report his assistant town manager, Anne Ross, sent him an email from another part of the room with an idea.

“Anne just informed me that our Public Works Department picks up trash along the road every day as part of their daily duties,” Bullock said. “She advised we should adopt the whole road and we won’t have to put up more adoption signs.”

Several commissioners smiled and Commissioner Irwin Pastor gave Ross a thumbs up from the dais.

“Let’s look into it,” Pastor said.

The commission directed Bullock to work with staff and FDOT to discuss the myriad of signs along the road and see if any can be removed.

Meanwhile, Bullock and Commissioner Phill Younger warned that crosswalks that will be built sometime next year at four locations on Gulf of Mexico Drive come with eight signs apiece.

“And some of them flash,” Younger said. “Oh brother.”

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].