WHY would someone staple flyers onto trees in Copley Square? (Boston: sale, city hall)

[bostonguy1960]

...It's maddening and selfish to do this. I just removed about 5 flyers advertising some type of offbeat internet radio station. They were located on trees in Copley Square. I've never seen posting on trees there. I don't like posters and flyers taped heavily to lightpoles;oftentimes they're still there months later frayed, faded and yellowed. But trees are alive and precious....how low can one get? This should be off limits, no?

[miu]

Did you take any pictures of these posters on the tree trunks? Did you save any of the posters?

Probably the person who did that had no tape, just a stapler and the trees were the only surface they could staple to. That area of Boston doesn't have any wooden utility poles or soft surfaces to staple the posters on. The trees were their only option.

You should complain to Boston city hall and also directly to the business on the poster about the offenses. With city hall, you should tell them the name of the business whose posters were stapled onto the trees. The postering could be covered by a department that works against postering, graffiti and littering. Of there is a parks department that protects the trees in the city public area. And the business is the one that hired the posterer to put up their posters.

[lrfox]

Yeah, I don't like it either. I use the iphone app that the city of Boston puts out. I've taken pictures of about 3 potholes and sent them. They've been fixed not too long after (within a month). That would be a good thing to use it for.

I'm pretty sure it's illegal for them to do that. And stupid. In an environmentally conscious time, why would you advertise by stapling crap to trees? I have no interest in said radio station.

[bostonguy1960]

Thanks for the supportive replies to what I acknowledge is a very minor issue to most people. But it's these quality of life issues which mount, creating chaos in various forms if left unattended.

I will defer at times and leave up flyers for lost pets and such (unsure when it's appropriate to tear them down...did the poster forget to remove it months later or is the pet still lost?). I'll usually leave up tasteful signs for art or theatre non-profit events. But the posters never come back to remove them, which irks me.

As far as signs for upcoming shows for local bands, I try to leave them up, then tear them down after said event. After all, some of these fledgling bands can use the publicity, and do contribute to the economy and the vibrancy of the city. But again, why don't they come back to remove them?

Same with yard sale signs...the people rarely return to remove them. Even worse, they'll scrawl "yard sale Sunday from 10-3" but don't identify which Sunday. After a few weeks or months pass, it remains current in the eyes of a passerby. Do some people then show up for the yard sale the next Sunday?

I realize some consider us silly (and with too much time on our hands, probably living in "Cambridge"), but I want the nicer parts of town to remain nice -- and not look like Allston Village with decaying posters and flyers everywhere, plastered on top of each other for months

Irfox: I, too, phone in or e-mail the city on potholes as well as burnt streetlights. I've read about that i-phone app in the Globe. Don't have an i-phone, but glad some are using this service.