Everyone wants to catch your eye. Merchants need all the help they can get to advertise their goods and services.

Gloucester’s zoning ordinance currently prohibits temporary signs such as signboards, banners and letter boards, a ban widely ignored until recent enforcement caught up with some of the users.

Acknowledging reality, the Gloucester Planning Commission has proposed ways to enable the use of temporary signs in business districts. The rules along with other revisions to the sign ordinance have been talked to death. They are practical and should be approved.

Merchants along Route 17 where traffic flies by deserve a chance to catch motorists’ eyes when they have something special to announce. Those on Main Street face the daily challenge of competing with the big box stores and the franchise restaurants and the general business sprawl along Route 17.

We feel sure the county, in trying to regulate signs, is not trying to stifle business anywhere. Its present ...