Tulsa Program Uses Volunteers to Remove Illegally Placed Signs

Chris Howell NewsOn6.com

TULSA---The City of Tulsa's volunteer sign removal program kicked-off today as around 20 volunteers were trained then hit the streets to pull illegally placed signs from street corners and utility poles. The city workers were overwhelmed by the volumes of signs and hope the sign abatement program will help them turn back the tide.

‘We just can't handle the amount or volume of signs that are put out, said Tallie Craigo, a Site and Sign Inspector for the city, ‘our group is funded by the Tulsa Beautification Foundation,  we contacted different groups that we know and actually had a great turnout today, they're passionate about this.'

One of the passionate volunteers is Alta Selvey, who had been pulling the signs on her own for years before reading about the city program in the newspaper.

‘I came upon the intersection between 61^st  and 169 a couple of years ago, there was a sea of yellow signs,' Alta explained, ‘I took them all up, there must have been 36 or 37 of those.  That is bad for the community, people come here from other areas to see if this is a good place to locate their business, and they're not going to do it if it's a trashy place.'

The sign abatement program had such luck in gathering volunteers the are thinking about having another training session.

If you are interested in volunteering for the program call the City Site and Sign supervisor at 596-9654.