Benzan campaign promises to remove oversize ad in Central Square window
Vice Mayor Dennis Benzan has a 76-square-foot campaign sign in the window of 565 Massachusetts Ave. – nearly four times the allowable size. (Photo: John Hawkinson)
Vice Mayor Dennis Benzan’s 76-square-foot campaign sign in the window of 565 Massachusetts Ave. is nearly four times the allowable size, and Benzan says “at some point in time, the sign will be replaced.”
The Cambridge Zoning Ordinance strictly limits the quantity of signage on buildings, but it contains an exemption for political signs and other non-commercial temporary signs – for signs that are 20 square feet or less. At 76 square feet, the Benzan campaign’s sign is 3.8 times the allowable limit.
“A mistake was made,” Benzan said Monday, saying he had ordered a sign within the rules. He was unable to say when the large sign would be removed.
“We accept responsibility and we will get it rectified,” Benzan said when asked why the sign could not be removed immediately and replaced with a smaller array of standard yard signs he has available.
Benzan is a first-term councillor running for reelection Nov. 3. There are 23 candidates running, with all nine incumbents seeking reelection.
Has this sign been taken down? Are there any political ramifications? Any updates?
On Thursday Sept. 24, the 76 square-foot sign was removed. It was promptly replaced with three 15 square-foot signs, totalling 45 square feet.
Benzan has not responded to further inquiry, but he is traveling internationally.
Inspectional Services received some complaints about the 76 sqft. sign, but it was removed prior to them taking enforcement action. As of Monday they had not received complaints about the 45 sqft of signage.
Some say the wording of the ordinance is not 100% clear as to whether the limit is per-sign or all signs in total. It permits only “temporary signs of a noncommercial nature, including political signs of any kind, not exceeding twenty (20) square feet in area.”
That is, it does not say “each” but also does not say “total.”
It looks like there are other problematic political signs around the
City, but I am not sure they are so significant as to be worth
the prominence of an article.
Thank you John. You do great work, as always.