Mayor Mary Manross, Scottsdale, Arizona

The city has replaced the attractive concrete signs at the entrance of all the city parks that used to give the name of the park. They've been replaced with 6-foot-tall artsy signs made out of rusty metal with sharp, jagged edges at the top, perfect for impaling kids who climb on them. The city's sign czars would never approve signs like these for businesses, but cities don't have to follow their own rules.

A couple of months earlier, the city had convinced voters that it needed more money.