Neon tragedy unfolding in Brighton

First they take away the Coke sign (don't think we haven't forgotten how that ugly self-storage place they call a hotel over by the turnpike got built). Now, of course, the Dunkin' Donuts sign in Brighton is coming down. Oh, sure, it no longer matches the chain's garish typography and, sure, the chain doesn't feel like paying anything to keep the sign from toppling on somebody's car, but still, I'll bet you dollars to, um, donuts, that the appropriate replacement Dunk's pledges will consist of a giant LED screen showing Rachael Ray's Joker-like visage 24 hours a day, which the city will reject and then, after a couple of years, everybody will make like a mime and just shrug and gesture "what sign?"

Or maybe I'm just bitter because I drove all the way up to Brighton tonight to take a photo of the sign and it's already unlit. At least I'll always have the memory of the nice e-mail I got from Bill Griffith thanking me for correcting him on the sign's location (yes, he put it in a Zippy strip, although he said it was in Brookline).