By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Christina Valdez had to stop and reread the city’s newest downtown signage when she first saw it along East State Street.
Then, she started laughing.
“I did have to go back and read what the purpose of the sign was because I was so caught off guard by being called a jerk in the first sentence,” she said. “I had never seen anything like that before, so I wanted to make sure I was actually seeing what I thought I was.”
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The city’s newest signage is turning heads for its uncharacteristically blunt language. While passersby may be used to being told to stop, yield or pay attention to the speed limit, few expect for a city government sign to call them a jerk.
But that’s exactly what the seven newest signs in Rockford do. That is, if you’re a litterbug.
The signs read:
“Why are you littering?
- I am a jerk.
- I don’t care about Rockford.
- Someone else can clean up after me.
- All of the above.”
Valdez, a former city of Rockford employee who now works as CFO for CMM & Associates construction company, reached out to a former colleague at City Hall after seeing the sign to ask a question others wondered: “Is this for real?”
Indeed, it is.
“It’s one of those things that makes you stop and think twice,” Valdez said. “I wasn’t littering, but I also wanted to make sure that everyone around me knew I was not littering and I was not a jerk.”
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Valdez’s next step was to share a photo on Facebook, where it quickly got a lot of attention from friends who also got a chuckle out of the message. And that, Mayor Tom McNamara says, is precisely the point. The city is injecting a little humor into its messaging in order to attract attention to an important issue, he said.
“I don’t know of another street sign that I’ve seen shared as much as I’ve seen that one, and I think it’s because it has a little bit of humor, it’s incredibly direct and maybe not characteristic of a municipality putting up,” McNamara said.
The signs have had naysayers, too, who don’t like it’s crass language. While McNamara said he understands it has upset some, he said most like the message.
“It’s certainly not there to offend,” he said. “It’s there to attract someone’s attention, maybe give them a laugh, but most importantly make them think, ‘I do care about Rockford. I’m not a jerk. I love where I live and it’s incumbent on all of us to play a role.'”
McNamara said the idea for the sign came after a resident in the ORCHiD neighborhood pointed similar signs out in another community in Illinois.
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Six of the city’s signs are in the downtown business district. The seventh is near the viaduct by 20th Street. McNamara said he’s willing to install more.
Lois Ginter, vice president of the ORCHiD neighborhood association, has some ideas where they could go. She said trash piles up under the Morgan Street bridge.
“Where I would like to see them at is along the river down by the dam,” Ginter said.
For years, Ginter has helped keep her neighborhood clean by picking up litter or reporting potholes to the city.
“I don’t whine about it, I just go pick it up,” she said.
As for the signs, Ginter said, “they’re hilarious.”
This article is by Kevin Haas. He is not a jerk. You can email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or on Instagram at @thekevinhaas.