Miami Beach Homeowners are sure raising their signs! As you drive through Miami Beach’s Luxurious high priced neighborhoods you will notice the Sign Epidemic in full bloom.
For Sale and For Rent signs abound, these signs come in many different sizes and colors! Added to these signs are riders and boxes. I do wonder why Broker’s bother to put boxes when most of these boxes are always empty? Some signs have so many riders on them you have to drive around twice to read them all! I have even seen some For Sale signs with photos of the agent, I thought Miami Beach Real Estate signs were not permitted to have the agents photos on them???? Then again in Miami Beach, who is paying attention?
I often wonder if it would not serve Realtors, me included, better if we were to do away with all For Sale signs? Our Streets would certainly benefit. Neighborhoods such as Bay Point, Golden Beach, Indian Creek Island and others do exist where For Sale signs are not permitted and houses in these neighborhoods continue to sell, and Realtors continue to thrive without signs. In this new age of technology and mass advertising, I think doing away with signs would be more beneficial to Realtors…but that is just one woman’s opinion!
Political Candidates signs are also found everywhere. I noticed Pine Tree Drive is heavy on Simon Cruz for Mayor Signs, while La Gorce Drive is a little confused as many homes are supporting both Mattie Bower and Simon Cruz, her opponent, in the Mayor of Miami Beach race. The more creative signs now include a photo of the candidate, or a photo of the candidate and their pets.
Some neighbors are having what I call “The Miami Beach Neighbors War of Signs”. That is when across a very thin property line you will find signs for opposing candidates side by side, butting up against each other. These signs are found in front yards, hanging from the fence, popping out of hedges, standing straight, standing sideways, facing down, on the floor, you name it you’ll find it in Miami Beach!
Another variation of the sign epidemic would be the Contractor’s signs. Contractor’s signs are the biggest ones of all! You will find examples of these big signs along North Bay Road. Staying true to my observation of where you find one sign you will find another, these Contractors have a “sign-athon” field day with their job sites.
Next we have the Miami Beach Government signs. You will find a good sampling of these type signs along Pine Tree Drive and La Gorce Drive. One of the larger signs is the “Your Dollars at Work Sign”. Anything dealing with money being spent by The City should definitely be BIG! Along Pine Tree Drive you will also find the supersonic-double-screen-extra-terrestrial looking speed limit detector. As you approach this sign you will see your speed limit in big bright colors. Another one of these type signs is located by the Carl Fisher statue where Alton Road meets Lakeview Drive, this is a Big flashing screen which says the following “Miami Beach Police Alert Go to (these words flash first), the next message that flashes says Miami Beach Gov”. Every time I drive by, I feel like I should run to my computer and find out what the Miami Beach Police alert is all about! After seeing this sign flash the same message a few days in a row, I realized it was just some type of convoluted advertising.
Then of course there are the ever present traffic signal signs, again these tend to appear in oversized groupings throughout Miami Beach, where more is better. Almost every single intersection along, Mid-Miami Beach, on streets like Chase Avenue, Prairie Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, Post Avenue, North Michigan Avenue, Royal Palm Avenue, etc. there is an overabundance of Stop signs; rare is an intersections without a four way stop. The symptoms of the 4 way stop sign epidemic make it difficult for drivers, all meeting at the same time in an intersection containing the 4 way stop signs, to maneuver through it. A common symptom: the drivers staring at each other and then flailing hand signals to each other. However, there’s always that one driver who immediately responds to the hand signal effect and gets the traffic back in full motion.
Along North Bay Road, in one of the few remaining easements (sliver of property owned by the city of Miami Beach), exists a tiny street where one can “cop a peak” at the same Wide Bay Views that the Waterfront Mansions on Upper North Bay Road enjoy. On this easement you will find not one or two but four (4) signs, all guarding a tiny stretch of street leading to the waterfront. One of these 4 informative signs let’s you know that there is “No Outlet”… Duh! As if one could not clearly see that? The other let’s you know you cannot enter. The other sign tells you not to loiter, and the 4th sign, posted on one of the adjacent properties, reads ‘Private Property’. I would never dare to set foot on this easement no matter how bad I would want to catch a good glimpse of Miami Beach’s wide bay waterfront view… luckily for me, I have sold many homes along the North Bay Road waterfront that if I need a water view “fix” I have plenty of happy Buyer’s I can call on!
Surprisingly enough even understated and elegant La Gorce Island, one of our most well maintained guarded Islands, is beginning to show symptoms of Miami Beach’s Sign Epidemic. La Gorce Island seems to be experiencing a redundancy filled sign epidemic type phase. La Gorce Island homes seem to have multiple coordinating signs on the same property. Various properties will have at least two coordinating signs with the same information. Some of the others have color coordinated signs. In my opinion La Gorce Island would look far better without any signs at all, but again that is just one woman’s opinion!
In Miami Beach there is no sign proof neighborhood, the epidemic is at an all time high. In a Miami Beach Home with one sign you are likely to find more; when it comes to signs it seems like more is better. One sign is no longer enough!
I wonder if the owners of one of these sign companies, reaping the financial benefits of Miami Beach’s sign epidemic, are interested in buying a house in Miami Beach?
