Signs point to frustration in Saugus

SAUGUS – Ron Barresi works in the sign shop at the Department of Public Works three days a week, but one of those days is spent picking up signs rather than printing and posting them.Barresi spends each Monday driving the main drags in town in search of yard sale, house foreclosure and lost pet signs that have been affixed to telephone poles or put up on town property. When he finds them, he tears them down.Typically he starts his day at 7:30 a.m. and finishes up between 10:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. That is three hours that DPW Superintendent Joseph Attubato said could definitely be better spent.Barresi’s Monday duties date back to a directive from Selectmen, who were tired of seeing the signs cluttering up town property.Instead of asking the yard sale holders, animal seekers or those wishing to save homeowners from foreclosures to remove their own signs, the board asked DPW to pick them up. The result is now Barresi spends much of his Monday mornings touring the town looking for the wayward signs.This past Monday, Barresi collected 85. Attubato said over the last few weeks he’s collected close to 200 in total.Wednesday Barresi pulled out a stack of neon green strips of poster board, each of which bore a black arrow.”These are the worst,” he said waving the arrows. “They put them on every other pole and I have to take them all down.”The appearance of large yellow or orange plastic signs claiming to help homeowners avoid foreclosure is new, Baressi said, but no less irritating.”There are homes for sale signs, lost dog signs – one dog has been missing since July,” he said. “These are not supposed to be on telephone poles or any property owned by the town.”Barresi said as much as it frustrates him that he has to go out seeking signs each Monday, he said he really can’t put it off.”If you leave them up for two or three weeks the town starts looking shabby,” he said.Attubato’s question, however, is why can’t residents remove the signs themselves.”I don’t know why they do it,” he said. “But I know you can make all the rules and regulations you want, but who will enforce them?”