Residents of Revelstoke are up in arms over painted signs on their sidewalks.
The signs first appeared several weeks ago. They warn skateboarders and cyclists that they aren’t welcome on the sidewalks and that dogs must be on a leash.
There are numerous signs throughout the downtown core, including 24 of them on the corners of one intersection.
And it appears they took most people by surprise.
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“We were a little bit shocked. We were on our way for lunch actually and just didn’t know what was happening. It kind of took everyone by surprise,” said Judy Goodman, the executive director of the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce.
In fact, even the city’s mayor, David Raven, was taken off guard.
“Staff took it upon themselves to do the signs without coming back to council,” Raven said.
The warnings were apparently painted by city staff concerned about dangerous downtown conditions. But the mayor acknowledges that they were a mistake.
“The signs are not as attractive as they could be. They’re quite large, quite intrusive,” he said.
Compounding the situation, there is some confusion about what the signs mean. One passerby says that in a sign warning against skateboarding on the sidewalk, the skateboard looks like a lizard.
The city looked into having the signs removed but the cost was too high. It’s now hoped that snow and salt over the winter will help make the signs disappear.
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