CLEVELAND — Some Cleveland residents on the city's West Side are upset about more 1,000 signs posted illegally on a series of major roadways running through their neighborhoods.
The signs were posted by Pastor Jose Reyes and his parishioners at Iglesia Nueva Vida New Life Church off of Pearl Road.
The red signs taped to hundreds public power poles read "Jesucristo Puede Cambiar Tu Vida," which Pastor Reyes said means "Jesus Christ can change your life.”
Still, some residents living in Cleveland's Clark-Fulton neighborhood, like Rebecca Kempton, believe the signs are a public nuisance and invite others to break city law.
“These signs only last a few days and then you have rubbish and trash in an area that we’re trying to build and make our neighborhoods look good,” Kempton said. “When those signs go up, it’s going to indicate to others they can put them up and that no one cares, and they can put up those signs that really prey on people in a negative way."
Community activist Sandy Smith also believes the signs aren't the proper public forum for that type of message.
“We all live in diverse neighborhoods, we don’t all worship in the same way. It’s offensive to some people, why do it?” Smith asked. “We’ve been fighting a battle for 10 years probably over this kind of visual pollution and litter.”
Smith said Cleveland's traffic engineering department is working on the case and said the church could face a $50 fine for each sign posted.
Pastor Reyes said he wasn't aware of the city law when the signs were being posted and said both he and his parishioners have already started taking down the signs in all the neighborhoods.
Pastor Reyes said he'll now ask his hundreds of parishioners to post the signs on their vehicles and told News 5 he still stands by his message and the intent of his church.
“I did not know about the law, as a Pastor I can not break any law,” Reyes said "When it comes to signs, post one—nobody is going to pay attention. Post 1,000 and you're going get attention.”
