They were warned in December and February, but Walking Street business owners whose signs hung lower than 5.5 meters above street level saw Pattaya city workers start cutting them down March 15.
City Councilman Anupong Bhudanawarut led the team of municipal staffers to the nightlife strip to begin removing signs in violation of city building and safety codes. City hall maintains signs must be at least 5.5 meters high to ensure emergency vehicles can pass through Walking Street and its narrow sidestreets.
Enough is enough. After several warnings resulting in no action, city workers arrived to forcibly remove the illegal signs.
Anupong said 169 businesses were cited in February and warned to remove or raise their signage. About two-thirds of businesses did, but more than 50 remained too low when workers arrived with cutting tools.
Seeing that Pattaya was serious about sign codes this time, some business owners begged for additional time to sort out their signage themselves. They were given 3-5 extra days, but only if they signed a written agreement.
Anupong said there would be no further extensions.
