Tattered Signs

All things have a lifespan, and information is strongly tied to timelines.  Here is a sign that used to say something about a permit application for this land, and the sign has been there for about 5-6 years now.  Now it's still there, but in tatters.  Sometimes, things just fall apart, or get defaced or destroyed by disruptive people, but in this case I can say exactly what happened to it.

It was buried in campaign signs during the last election.  Signs were staked to the ground around it, and a few were hung on it or taped to it, or whatever the people did to cut corners.  Surely, someone ripped the sign apart trying to get their signs down.

The election was last November 8.  Whoever owns this sign has not come to repair it.  Maybe that was an old deal that fell through?  I'm not sure if the FOR SALE sign next to it is recent or not.  Surely a new sign will appear one of these days, explaining how this patch of land will be plowed into some set of buildings and parking lots.

Speaking of tattered signs, right across the street from that was this little handmade sign for a lost bird.  

This raises so many questions.  What percent of lost pet poster campaigns result in the pet being found?  What percent of people come back and take down their lost pet signs?  Does it even work with birds?  They can just fly away.  That does make it difficult.  Most people can lure a cat or dog into their car, but the best I could do with a bird is say that I think I saw it yesterday on that flagpole over there.

Maybe this person had a ton of signs to take down and just grabbed this one, heard a tearing sound, and figured he got it down.  But part of it is still there, telling even less of a story than before.  Maybe the bird was sighted, maybe it was already hundreds of miles from here.

Some day, the rest of these signs will be pulled down.  Their timeline will end, their little case files in my head will close, and new stories will take their places.

1/12/23 update: I stopped off at that corner on the way home Wedesday night and got this calm photo of the wrecked sign in the sunset, still proudly saying nothing.  And some of the remains its original message are slowly melting back into the earth.

Jan 30 update

It turns out that the diagonally opposite corner of that big 33.2 acre lot has a matching pair of signs with the mystery sign intact.  

 

It didn't answer all the questions though, since I could not find either of those plan identifiers at the San Marcos city planning website, AND the parcel was not listed on the real estate website that put up the bigger sign saying it was available.  The bottom line of the city sign was blanked out -- it originally said converting to residential, 495 units, now it says "Converting to _____."  So, with all those words, we still know nothing about what is going on with this piece of land.

The remnants of the sign for the missing bird have been taken down.

June 2023 update: the city came up with a different plan and posted a new sign: