Pleasant Street Banners Non-Issue For Now

Last week, Marblehead Historical Commission Chairman Chris Johnson floated a new idea to a complicated problem. He suggested using the marquees at the now vacant Warwick Theater on Pleasant Street to post community event notices.

Until last year, Marblehead drivers were alerted to upcoming community events, such as the Fall Festival in September, with cross-street banners on Pleasant Street. But the Board of Selectmen prohibited the banners last year after 15-year-old Allie Castner was struck and killed by a driver on Pleasant Street.

The impetus for the ban was the belief that Castner was killed by a distracted driver, and the banners might be a distraction to other drivers, although there was no banner hanging on Pleasant Street at the time of the accident.

Some event planners have replaced the banners with sandwich boards at intersections, which several town officials said may be more distracting to drivers than the banners. But no alternative locations for the banners have been identified, and the issue of allowing banners across Pleasant Street or elsewhere in Marblehead seems dead for the moment.

With the anniversary of Castner's death this month, the issue is considered too sensitive to bring up, several officials said.

The Marblehead Chamber of Commerce last May proposed lifting the ban on banners. But the Board of Selectmen voted to postpone the issue until after the June 15th special election when the issue of redesigning and improving Pleasant Street was on the ballot. The funding for the Pleasant Street improvements was voted down in that special election.

Selectman Bill Woodfin, who made a motion to table the banner issue until after the election, said Wednesday that he would not object to bringing the issue before the Board of Selectmen again. But in conversations with town officials there was little enthusiasm to consider the issue again.  

Katherine Koch, assistant to the director of the chamber, said she did not know of any interest by the chamber to ask the selectmen to reconsider the issue now.

The chamber wanted the selectmen to lift the ban on banners saying they are "a significant marketing tool" for the town, according to chamber Executive Director Ann Marie Casey. The chamber has about $15,000 to $20,000 invested in banners that are in the chamber's attic, she said. And retailers and event planners have told her that events in town since the banners were not up have had lower attendance than in previous years when the banners were used, she said.

Chris Johnson, the commission chairman, said he spoke to the owner of the Warwick Theater, but got no conclusive response to his proposal to use the theater marquees at least until the banner issue is reconsidered.  

The Warwick is empty, after the departure of the YMCA to its new facility, and the marquees are not utilized. In the past, the message "Cheer up. Pass it On" was on the marquees.

The Historical Commission liked the idea and authorized Johnson to continue discussions with the theater owner.

Woodfin said he believes that the Warwick will be torn down. "And I have the first dibs on those marquees," he said. He wants to install them on the Marblehead Gun House. "Wouldn't that be great?" he said.