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Neighborhood Sign Goes Missing on the Pike

A granite sign, recently installed along Columbia Pike, has gone missing.

The sign announced to folks heading westbound on the Pike that they were entering the Columbia Heights neighborhood. It was installed several months after the County Board approved a $12,500 neighborhood sign project for Columbia Heights.

Christine Nixon, chief of the county’s Neighborhood Services Division, says the sign itself cost about $900.

“They don’t disappear very often because they’re very heavy,” she said. “We do have a fund that we use to replace signs — more often then being stolen they get run into by very, very impaired drivers — so [the department] will be ordering a new one shortly. If the missing one turns up later we will keep it in storage for eventual use.”

Nixon added: “It is frustrating to have County property stolen, particularly since the design and siting process is something that volunteers spend a lot of time on.”

Photos of the sign from two weeks ago are shown below. At the time, we took note of the fact that the aesthetics of the newly-installed sign, when viewed from behind, were a bit lacking.