So the San Jose City Council is giving the green light on loosening up restrictions on signs in San Jose and even allowing more electronic signs in downtown San Jose and certain other locations. The City Council gave preliminary approval on policies that would permit more downtown business to put up programmable electronic signs similar to the ones currently at the downtown Flames and the new Market by Safeway. The permission to install these bright, programmable signs in downtown would obviously be encouraging for current and future businesses in downtown San Jose and this is obviously one of the motivations for allowing the new policies. Plus, having these ever-changing signs that shine and display various messages throughout the day would undoubtedly help create an illusion of downtown being a vibrant and energetic destination. But before we start installing bright lights all over downtown, let’s make sure that these digital displays make sense. Afterall, we don’t want to be a cheesey version of all the signs that make Las Vegas glow. I’m sure there will lots of critics who will protest against the bright lights as intrusive, ugly, and will complain that these lights shine right into their bedrooms. And these are probably very legitimate complaints especially with more and more residents moving downtown. This is where common sense should come into play that allows appropriate signage that fits in to what the current environment of the neighborhood. We need the signs to be the right size and brightness so that its not gawdy and doesn’t change the characteristics of our downtown.

The rock band Tesla had a popular hit song with the title “Signs”. The chorus goes:

Signs, Signs
Everywhere there’s signs
Blocking up the scenery
Breaking up my mind

Let’s keep downtown San Jose scenic and clean. But go ahead and add a little bit of bright color to it.