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pattyrauss

Beach Crab
Jan 19, 2008
1
0
The blue signs are an abomination. Upon entering Seaside Wednesday night from Ohio to eat dinner at The Southern Cafe, we were appalled and shocked beyond belief at the large blue METAL sign announcing that we had arrived at Seaside. I have taken many pictures of the other sign with the background of beautiful houses in the background during the eight years we have been coming here. This is so not in keeping with the rusticity and naturalness and beauty of 30A. Weren't the homeowners along 30A consulted on this. To us they have ruined the pleasure of driving this road. To think that one would ever take a picture of one of these obtrusive signs to be representative of what 30A is about is unimaginable. They have got to go, even if all homeowners on 30A have to go together to pay the cost to get rid of. Even us vacationers would help. In fact, we have been here four days and I can't get them out of my mind and every time I pass them I want to scream!!!!!! How HORRIBLE!!!!!!!
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,644
1,773
" However, he understands that the signs are there for visitors whose money drives the local economy.

Mares said tourism brought in about $1 billion last year. The signs also help with the county’s branding and marketing, he added. "

(SJ) - and the $1 billion came without these signs. Surely they aren't suggesting that the signs will help to bring in more money.

"Mares said the signs can’t be repainted, but the TDC is reviewing placing some native plants at the bottom of them, so long as they do not obstruct a driver’s view. "

(SJ) - I'm not paint expert, but I got $5 that says that they can be painted. Maybe she intended to say that painting the signs wasn't in the budget.
 

tsutcli

Beach Fanatic
Jan 14, 2008
914
109
Seacrest
The sad part is that the TDC doesn't care what the locals have to put up with. After doing all this damage and causing a PR meltdown Kris Titus leaves. Guess she couldn't stand the heat in the kitchen.
Frankly we would be better off if they disbanded the TDC - who needs them with St. Joe and all the other large developers advertising this area around the country, and on their nickel. Anyone have an idea how this could be done??
 

tsutcli

Beach Fanatic
Jan 14, 2008
914
109
Seacrest
As appealing as repainting sounds, unless they remove the signs and do a thorough job of prepping the surface, the paint will just start peeling almost immediately. And then the bright blue will show through which will look worse. The maintenance dept. couldn't keep up. The only answer is to take them down.
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,644
1,773
Wayfinding signs up to par?
Walton Sun
• TDC says they’ve yet to correct installations
By Sean Boone sean_boone@link.freedom.com

If it looks too tall, it probably is.
The South Walton Tourist Development Council said that in the process of adding 49 new wayfinding signs that some might not have been correctly installed, but will be corrected as soon as the entire project is complete.
“Right now I can’t speak with full confidence the signs are all at their right height,” said TDC Director of Public Relations and Visitor Services Tracy Louthain. “Inspections of all the signs will take place once they are complete.” According to Louthain, the new signs were designed for gateway welcoming, County Road 30A beach community identity and also to connect those communities. “We’ve been working on these signs for many years,” she said. “We wanted them to match the kiosks at the beach. Since the flag-warning signs were a great product that was durable during storms and against salt air, we decided to go with those.”
Some residents in South Walton like Georgeen Newell, say the new sign materials hurt the beach communities

(Article was continued on p A3, but as is, I cannot copy and paste it here.)

(Note to Walton Sun, your epaper ran together this story and Orbie's, in the pop up window. Also, when I went to pA3 to copy and paste the second part of the article, the pop up is for the Sen Nelson article.)
 
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Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,644
1,773
Letters to the Editor
Walton Sun

Mapping out the 30A franchise
Hooray! I’ve found a new way to save gas money. Rather than drive all the way to Panama City or Destin to see garish, tacky and obnoxious tourist signs, I can now drive down beautiful County Road 30A and see a whole bunch of them.
They are every couple of miles and they are big and blue. You can’t miss them.
Although all of them seem a little too tall, some of them are even taller. I’ll bet places like Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach, WaterColor, WaterSound, Seaside and Grayton Beach, who have always gone for more low-keyed, tasteful and classy kind of signage (that seemed to fi t in with the natural environment), are kicking themselves in the rear for not coming up with such great BIG BRIGHT BLUE SIGNS.
It must be heartwarming for them to know, after all that trouble designing and defining themselves as destinations unique and distinguished from all others, they are now just another franchise of the TDC. Just like Burger King!
Of course, you have to remember that the tourists who come to South Walton are inherently stupid. They have no idea where they are.
Their rental agency or Mapquest got them here, and by God, how are they going to get to their condos unless they have big blue signs to tell them where they are. Don’t get me wrong, it is important to know that you are near Grayton Beach (which, by the way, has the tallest sign) and not in Blue Mountain, even though you are nearly five miles from Grayton.
I think if we can just install more of these signs, we should be able to lower the intelligence level of our tourists so that they have no idea whether they are in South Walton or Panama City Beach or Daytona Beach.
If not, the immense shade that these big blue signs produce will possibly help solve global warming.
In short, why doesn’t our county government ask us what we might like to see (or not see) along our beautiful highway?
Garrett Horn
Seagrove Beach


I am so confused
My mailing address says I live in Panama City Beach but I don’t live in Bay County.
I thought I always lived in Seacrest since that was what the sign said along 30A.
Now that the old sign has been replaced with a new one that says, “Welcome to Seacrest Beach,” would the TDC and the county please tell me which one?
The only Seacrest Beach I know of along 30A is the resort near High Point with the tall white chairs at the entrance, but I don’t live there. I live in Seacrest.
Also, notice the two signs on the east end of 30A that are across from one another that point you to Seacrest Beach but each sign points you in the opposite direction?
But, what I really want to know is what did they do with Seacrest?
Yep, just what we need along 30A, more signs to confuse travelers and slow down traffic along 30A. Hey, those signs confused me and I live here. I’m still looking for Seacrest.
I was talking to a neighbor about our new sign just the other day and she wanted to know how they could just come in and change the name of our community like that. I told her they just did.
I will let others comment on the appearance of those signs. They are well suited for Pier Park but not here.
Pauline Sutcliffe
Seacrest (yes, just
Seacrest)


The passing of Dear Old 30A
The new 30A road signs are up. I‘m sure the TDC paid a lot for the signs, but they look so out of place, over designed and Disneyesque.
Yes, the old sand carved wooden signs were deteriorating. But, to me, those signs represented a wonderful period for 30A that 90 percent of today’s visitors never experienced: when 30A in South Walton was a sleepy, authentic beach retreat.
My strongest objection is the bright blue color. That color is OK for the beach; but there is a reason carefully planned developments on 30A use earth tones in their signage.
Do you wonder why Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach opted out of allowing the signs?
Decades of effort by South Walton residents have spared the native ecosystems we boast about today. That bright blue color is not consistent with 30A’s personality. If the purpose is to ensure the signs are noticed, the familiar red and white umbrella logo would have suffi ced.
I hope the TDC will, at least, repaint the signs a more aesthetic color.
Hordes of tourists have discovered our area, but I mourn the passing of our dear old beach road 30A. It is now offi cially (Scenic) Highway 30A, the tourist route.
Rob Koehnemann
Seagrove
 
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Jdarg

SoWal Expert
Feb 15, 2005
18,038
1,980
Shocking- no glowing supportive letters.:lol:

I am all for a volunteer work day- if the TDC can figure out a way to get some new paint to stick, adjust the sign heights, and get some plants (that will be expensive but necessary), then maybe volunteers can assist in the "wayfinding sign beautification project". Maybe even groups can "adopt" a sign, like portions of the highway are adopted.
 

seacrestkristi

Beach Fanatic
Nov 27, 2005
3,538
36
My retirement beach home is in Seacrest too, just one word. ;-)
'Alys Beach' is just a development like 'Seacrest Beach'. Both are in Seacrest. It makes it so confusing when developments name themselves as if they were a town, isn't it? :dunno: What is their motivation for doing this? I miss the :cool: bike path thru nature too. Now it's like hollyhood with armed guards parked at both ends 24/7. Does the speed limit still jump from 20 straight to 45 there, then straight back to 35 within a few hundred feet? Why not a consistent 35 from and up to their 20 mph?

How did Rosemary get out of the blue signs though? :dunno:They are a real town, aren't they?...not a development name. Well good for them, they also don't have public beach access there? Wonder why everyone wasn't given the same opportunity to opt out if they diidn't like the huge blue signs too? What a waste...

I've only seen the pix so far and can't understand why our little complex had to get special permits and approval before even replacing our little sign, if the county isn't held to the same supposed strict corridor beauty rules. :dunno: If a kid or adult wrecks their bike on the path, it seems those concrete posts could really cause some possible head injuries. At least wood has a little give to it. :love: Could that be a lawsuit for the county waiting to happen? :dunno:
 
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