Eldersburg Is Under Attack by Ugly Lights!!!

Change is inevitable. New businesses are created and they want new signs. Over the last couple of years I've noticed that a LOT of the new signs around Eldersburg are those red or orange LED lights or even worse those scrolling LED signs. In my opinion, these are ghetto. If I can see them from a mile away - I'm in the ghetto. It was bad enough when the "Liquor" store at the intersection of Oakland Mills Road and Liberty Road went with one of those signs. Seriously - between that and the giant stadium lights that they use to light up their parking lot. I thought we lived in the outskirts of the suburbs.

Now these unattractive and distracting signs are showing up at every new business across our town. Check out how many I have (and I'm sure that I'm missing some).

Here is the sign for Susquehanna Bank in the Eldersburg Market Place just off of Route 32 (with the Kohl's, Home Depot, and Martin's). It's not terrible as it is off of the road, but scrolling LED nonetheless.


This is one of the first scrolling LED lights that I recall showing up in our once classy town. This one scrolls messages about God and shows pictures, plus gives important dates and information about the Church as you drive by at 70 mph.


Here at the former Crown station, former Texaco station, current Shell Station at the corner of Ridge Road and Liberty Road, you can determine the price of gas from 2 parcecs away. On a related note - you guys need to trim the bushes around your sign!


Across the street from the ghettoesque Carrolltown Center, which I might add has no scrolling LED lights (but on the other hand they have no real businesses there either), there is the Oklahoma Center. They just renovated this strip mall recently and it looks really nice....except for the scrolling red LED lights.


Here's another LED at the Eldersburg Market Place. This is one for Martin's gas station. Why a grocery store is selling gas is beyond me, but they no doubt are also using the sign. Did you hear the astronauts talking to Houston on their latest shuttle mission as they passed over Maryland? "What the hell are all of those red lights?" No, they weren't even over Baltimore City yet. They were flying over Eldersburg.


Like the ugly fat sister, Jiffy Lube was late to the game. But not to be outdone they decided to put in a mini scrolling red LED sign. The letters are far too small to read as you drive by. And all those technical terms they use? Those words don't even fit on the sign. And Jiffy Lube - if you're going to put up a new sign - please paint the post, too. This ain't Glen Burnie.


So there you have it. Eldersburg is officially under attack by the gaudy red LED lights. Is there no recourse? Can we stop it? Do we need to go to Carroll County Zoning and Planning to write some guidelines on what is appropriate?

We have 5 new Carroll County commissioners. Do you have any recommendations?