I was checking my bucket list and discovered that I had overlooked visiting the soldiers memorial at Garfield Square in Pottsville. "My bucket has a hole in it." Hank Williams put those words to music. These are the words I live by.
I drove down Market Street and as I approached Garfield Square I felt like General Eisenhower touring Germany after the war ended. I felt patriotic.
I parked my car at the Square and put several quarters in the meter as I have trouble using the app on my flip phone. I strolled over to the monument and gazed at the impressive Lady Liberty standing high above the statues of soldiers and sailors. There are even civil war cannons on the Square. It was dedicated in 1891 and still impressive today.
My visit was interrupted by the large electronic billboard that sits onto of a truck near the funeral home that once was a church. While I was there it lit up with messages such as "Scream Fest III" and "Clam Chowder Night at the Hosey" and telling me where to go for the best bleenies. I thought it was unusual for a funeral home to have a sign like that out in front but I guess the funeral industry has to change with the times. Its about time they put the f-u-n back into funerals. It's not their sign but I guess they don't mind. Thinking about where to get the best bleenies, is a definite grief-buster.
 |
| RV at the Square charging station |
I thought it was odd that there was a flashing electronic billboard in the Square as the Square is a residential area. Advertising signs are prohibited under the City Code in residential neighborhoods.
I sat down in the gutter and read the Code further. I got to Section 194-5 and it reads "No person shall erect or maintain, upon any street, sidewalk, curb or gutter in front of or along any dwelling house, store or other building or premises, any signboard, bulletin board or any obstruction of any type whatsoever which will interfere with the complete and full use, at all times, for the public of any street, sidewalk, curb or gutter."
How could this advertising sign exist in the area dedicated to the war dead, in a residential neighborhood and in front of a funeral home? To me, this was in violation of the city code in a city that prides itself on code enforcement and improving the quality of life for its residents.
Yes, Pottsville is noted for its strict code enforcement. It recently shut down the Blackrock microbrewery that operated out of the old YWCA for code violations. When the code enforcement officials swooped into action, the quality of life of every single resident bumped up (some say from even mediocre to ho-hum), Maybe the officials will soon get the old furnishings and rubbish laying out for months on the 1900 block of Howard Avenue cleaned up. Who knows?
The best photo of the Square that
I could take with my Brownie Starmite Box Camera. during a Canadian smoke-filled day....the monument is at the right. The sign is now a permanent part of the Square.
Was it just me that saw the blatant code violation on the Square? Maybe I have a sixth sense like Bruce Willis in that old movie.. Maybe "I see code violations."
Maybe I need to get with the times. Maybe the Square needs more electronic and colorful signs. Maybe the old Garfield Diner could become a "Big Boys" fast-food restaurant? Lady Liberty could be replaced with a statue of the restaurant's trademarked chubby boy with a pompadour hairstyle wearing red-and-white checkered overalls holding a sandwich. It would be an improvement for the visually impaired and the hungry. 
Big Boy
