Story at a glance
- In the 1990s Virginia Beach put up “no cursing” signs.
- Critics say the signs weren’t effective or welcoming to visitors.
- The signs were taken down in May of 2019, and the Virginia Beach City Council unanimously approved a resolution on Tuesday to donate the signs to the Virginia Beach Police Foundation, which will auction them off.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Virginia Beach’s infamous “no cursing” signs will get new life — essentially as big swear jars.
No, not in the technical sense, but they’ll be auctioned off later this year to help raise funds for a local police charity.
The Virginia Beach City Council unanimously approved a resolution on Tuesday to donate the signs to the Virginia Beach Police Foundation, a nonprofit separate from the police force that funds several initiatives, including helping families of injured and sick officers.
About 30 signs remain in the city’s possession after they were taken down in May of 2019, just after the first Something in the Water festival.
The Atlantic Avenue Association said Virginia Beach’s signs, put up in the 1990s as part of a larger effort to encourage a family-friendly atmosphere and control crowds, clearly weren’t effective, and weren’t welcoming to visitors.
A year after they came down in 2019, Virginia legislators finally voted to repeal the commonwealth’s 1792 law that made cursing in public a crime.
Ironically, the city code of Virginia Beach still lists cursing as a misdemeanor punishable with a $250 fine.
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