ASHFORD — Municipal sign inspector Dana Whitfield confiscated 200 campaign yard signs over the weekend, including one lawn she cited for “illegal enthusiasm” after measuring 47 signs on a single residential lot.
“The ordinance allows four signs per parcel,” said Whitfield, whose official title is High Sheriff of the Parkway. “Forty-seven is not four. Forty-seven is a hedge made of opinions.”
Whitfield patrols with a measuring wheel, a copy of the sign ordinance, and what she calls “an unerring sense of when a lawn has gone too far.” Her record confiscation remains the 2019 “Sign Forest of Elm Street,” where one homeowner deployed 112 signs in a spiral pattern visible from satellite imagery.
“He said it was art,” Whitfield recalled. “I said it was a violation of Section 8, Subsection C. We agreed to disagree. I took the signs. He kept the spiral. Everybody grew.”
Confiscated signs are stored at the municipal impound lot, where owners may reclaim them for a $5 fee after the election. Unclaimed signs are recycled into what the city calls “democracy mulch,” used in public flower beds.
“The mulch program is very popular,” Whitfield said. “People love the idea that last year’s opinions are feeding this year’s petunias. It’s the circle of civic life.”
Whitfield emphasized she has no opinion on the signs’ messages. “I don’t read them. I measure them. A sign is a sign. Four is fine. Forty-seven is a cry for help, and also a citation.”
The “democracy mulch” program has won a municipal beautification award, with judges praising flower beds that “literally grew from civic engagement.” The petunias are “thriving on discourse,” according to the parks department’s official report. Whitfield keeps one confiscated sign on her office wall — “VOTE 4 ART,” salvaged from the Elm Street spiral — as a reminder. “It was art,” she admitted. “It was also one hundred twelve violations. Both things can be true.”
Whitfield’s “democracy mulch” flower beds were featured in a regional gardening magazine under the headline “From Yard Signs to Yard Blooms.” “The petunias have never looked better,” the article noted. “Neither has civic engagement.” Whitfield keeps the clipping beside the “VOTE 4 ART” sign.
Whitfield’s impound lot now offers “adopt-a-sign” — unclaimed signs available to gardeners “for trellises and tomato stakes.” Forty have been adopted. “Last year’s opinions,” she said, “are holding up this year’s tomatoes.”
As of Monday, 38 signs had been reclaimed. The remaining 162 await their owners, or the petunias — whichever comes first.
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