CHARLOTTE — A spokesperson for the city of Charlotte says the city is taking action after a Charlotte woman says a “Keep Charlotte Beautiful” volunteer removed signs from private property honoring a late World War II nurse.
Amanda O’Hara addressed Charlotte City Council about the issue Monday night. She says 98-year-old Geraldine Lindsey was like a third grandmother to her.
“She was a World War II nurse. She was a two-time leukemia survivor and a rescue dog mom,” she said. “She was just beloved in our neighborhood. If you ever need anything, she was there for you.”
She loved pinwheels so after she passed, O’Hara and her neighbors in their non-HOA community in north Charlotte put them up in her memory. They also made signs telling people about the pinwheels’ significance but were mysteriously taken down. When they were replaced, they were taken down again. Some of the signs were on private property. They put a camera up and discovered it was a “Keep Charlotte Beautiful” volunteer in the Adopt-A-City Street Program.
“Why we’re taking up signs that are honoring a World War II nurse and a two-time leukemia survivor, I don’t understand,” she said.
O’Hara filed a complaint with the city and a spokesperson said in response, the city told all Adopt-A-City Street groups they are only authorized to remove illegal signs within their boundaries.
Volunteers now must take a picture before removing the sign and it will be reviewed by staff.
The city has also updated its written instructions on how to identify them.
O’Hara is grateful for those changes and says more oversight is needed.
“We have code enforcement for a reason,” she said. “It’s not for ‘Keep Charlotte Beautiful’ volunteers to determine if signs are out of code or not, especially signs that are honoring people.”
Through a records request, she obtained an email sent by the volunteer who took them down. The volunteer called them trashy-looking and aggravating to see up.
O’Hara says that’s sad considering she and her neighbors were honoring such a noble person.
Statement from City of Charlotte:
Under the Adopt-A-City-Street program, Keep Charlotte Beautiful (KCB) volunteers are authorized to remove illegal signs within the boundaries of their adopted streets. Any sign they remove outside those boundaries is not authorized under the KCB agreement. The complaint alleges that signs were removed by KCB volunteers outside of the approved geography. Following the complaint, KCB staff took the following actions:
- Sent a notification to all registered Adopt-A-City-Street groups to remind them about the limits of their authority as stated above.
- Added a requirement to the standard procedures that KCB volunteers take pictures before removing illegal signs – these pictures will be submitted as part of the clean-up report and reviewed by KCB staff.
- Updated the written instructions for identifying illegal signage to provide additional clarity
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