Sign
of a good thing: Digital display to keep
town up to date
Published in the Times-Beacon 6/30/05
By JESSICA STENSTROM Staff Writer
LACEY -- Starting next week there will
be a place to go for all the up-to-date
information on events throughout Lacey
Township.
The Township and Forked River Rotary
Club purchased a digital sign jointly that
is now installed at the corner of
Manchester Avenue and Haines Street.
Rotary Club President Dan Cortese said
that one of the Rotarians had come up with
the idea of a digital sign.
"There are always a range of
different signs in the area," he
said.
The hopes are that the digital sign
will make the corner more presentable
while making the township's job of
controlling the signage in the area
easier.
"We are trying to eliminate all of
the signs in the area," Mayor Gary
Quinn said. "It looks so hokey at
times."
He said that any of the community
organizations would be able to use the
digital sign to publicize their upcoming
events by contacting the recreation
department at (609) 693-1100, extension
201.
"I think this sign will really
benefit our community," Quinn said.
The sign was purchased jointly with the
township funding $9,000 of the costs.
The Rotary Club paid the remaining
costs $9,000 for the actual purchase of
the sign and about $3,000 for the
installation.
Quinn said that Public Works Director
Casey Parker had established $9,000 in
remaining grant money that was used for
the purchase of the sign.
The digital sign will operate from on a
telephone line so it would be easy for the
recreation department to upgrade the
messages that are displayed on the sign..
Clubs will have to fill out request
forms and submit them and than the
recreation department will decide which
messages would scroll across the sign and
for what amount of time, Quinn said.
"It will be like a community
billboard," Township Business
Administrator John F. Adams said at the
time the idea of the sign first arose in
April.
Committeeman Brian Reid has suggested
something similar on the other side of
town for people who don't frequent the
Manchester and Haines intersection.
"People south of Lacey Road need
to be notified too. Keep us in mind,"
he said.
Quinn said that placing another sign on
the property that the township owns near
the business park section of town may be
another option.
Clubs and organizations will still be
able to make announcements using Channel
21, Quinn said.
.
