Thread: Ilegal signs?????

Whats the deal with all of the Ilegal signs on billboards? Mostly along the Pan American that I have seen? It is really annoying when they cover up the name, description or phone number. I have limited access to information about places here so it is especially annoying.

Well, Panamanians won't pay for anything unless at knife point or if you kick them in the nuts. Not a single sign has a permit of course - they probably need to go to 6-7 different government offices and spent about 35-40 hours waiting in line and pay some symbolic amount based on sign measurements which has to be certified by some other government office. That's how they go about everything here since they were never issued brains at birth.

It is my understanding that a friend or relative of a government leader was given rights over all signs within 10 meters (just spit-balling, don't know all the details) of all roads in Panama. As with typical Panama planning (non-existent), every single sign is now illegal and of course there wasn't much of a prior notice. Just par for the course. Somebody was given a gift and that person took advantage of it as soon as possible.

they changed the law and now all signs in the ditch are a hazard for driving , they all have to come out , and i think it is a great idea as it was starting to look like a lot of the states , trailer park boys kind of trash .

Originally Posted by nakedguydb

they changed the law and now all signs in the ditch are a hazard for driving , they all have to come out , and i think it is a great idea as it was starting to look like a lot of the states , trailer park boys kind of trash .

If the signs need to come out just because they look like trash, what would be the purpose of spending money to print a lot of very large stickers stating that each sign is "illegal"? Why wouldn't they just remove them?

Safety or money? My bet's on money.

Originally Posted by MRWOOHOO

If the signs need to come out just because they look like trash, what would be the purpose of spending money to print a lot of very large stickers stating that each sign is "illegal"? Why wouldn't they just remove them?

i think it is so the owners pick up the tab to pull them out , there are some very big and expensive signs that have to come down , much cheaper for a sticker than a crew of guys and a truck to remove them , then if the goverment was smart about this after the month grace that they gave them , they would just let the public scrap metal guys pull them out and sell the scrap , would not cost the goverment anything and they would be down in a heartbeat

Originally Posted by EdBowers

Safety or money? My bet's on money.

I agree. I am just spit-balling but give it sometime. Before you know it you will be able to just pay a fee (to somebody connected, monthly, yearly, who knows?) and keep your sign. I see a regular revenue stream.

Originally Posted by MRWOOHOO

I agree. I am just spit-balling but give it sometime. Before you know it you will be able to just pay a fee (to somebody connected, monthly, yearly, who knows?) and keep your sign. I see a regular revenue stream.

there was a fee , $12 per year , paid to the town that the signs were near , last year the goverment said no more signs and the towns cried about the loss of the fee , they kept allowing the signs and collecting the money , so the goverment passed a law saying they are a driving hazard and they all have to come out of the ditches , i see some are just being moved back into farmers feilds , so we are not going to be sign free , but some will go and it will not look so crappy