No mistaking the signs: race for mayor heating up

No thanks, said resident Bob Boushell, a retiree who had no interest in cluttering his lawn or marring his neatly trimmed hedges. “I don’t think they make much of a difference,’’ he said.

Don’t tell that to Michael Bare, a South Boston organizer known as Captain Visibility, who handles signs for Michael F. Flaherty’s campaign.

“People say signs don’t vote, but they do a lot of other things,’’ said Bare, who has distributed, hoisted, lashed, and nailed down thousands of campaign signs in his political lifetime. “They show organization. They show momentum.’’

And they are proliferating, in numbers Boston has not seen in years. With Mayor Thomas M. Menino facing the most competitive race of his tenure, brightly colored card stock and corrugated plastic are staging a comeback. Whether cherished, scorned, or merely tolerated, they are hard to miss, from East Boston to West Roxbury.

“You can’t win with them; you can’t win without them,’’ said Natasha Perez, a spokeswoman for Flaherty’s campaign, which has distributed about 2,500 signs and plans to place another 1,500 or more before the Sept. 22 preliminary election.

The signs might not drive voters to the polls, but they help with name recognition. They provide a reassuring jolt for supporters who see them, and they foster a sense of shared purpose among the campaign volunteers who assemble and distribute them. For those unable to give time and money, they are an easy way to feel connected.

Flaherty, a councilor at large, has reported spending close to $10,000 on signs this year.

Sam Yoon, a fellow councilor at large who is also in the race, has taken a lower-key approach, spending about half as much and distributing roughly 750 signs.

Yoon’s chief strategist, Jim Spencer, invoked the ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu.

“It’s like ‘The Art of War,’ ’’ he said. “Why should I engage on a battlefield that I know I can’t win?’’

With fewer signs, the Yoon campaign instead touts its expertise with online tools and social networking to reach voters. This week, the campaign introduced an interactive video portal dubbed YoonTube.

Still, Spencer said, if you skimp on banners, cards, and billboards while your opponents blanket the neighborhoods, people will invariably say, “Boy, they’re really killing you with signs.’’

A fourth candidate, developer Kevin McCrea, said he has put up about 70 signs so far.

One of Yoon’s first acts as a candidate was to walk through his Fields Corner neighborhood last spring and distribute signs to business owners in the Vietnamese immigrant community. But his enthusiasm for storefront sign placements dampened after Menino’s Vietnamese liaison retraced Yoon’s path and reminded shopkeepers of reasons for supporting the mayor, Spencer said. Signs went up for Menino, who had yet to declare his candidacy, and eventually for Flaherty, too, alongside the signs for Yoon.

“It looks ridiculous,’’ Spencer said.

Emily Nowlin, Menino’s campaign manager, said, “Sign wars are, unfortunately, a fact of life on campaigns.’’

She said the mayor’s priority is to distribute signs to those who are eager to support him or have supported him in the past. Seeking a record fifth term, Menino has reported spending more than $33,000 this year to freshen up his sign collection. Nowlin said Menino had distributed more signs than Flaherty and Yoon combined, to meet demand from backers, but she would not say how many.

“It gives people a chance to show their support for their candidate, and it really gives the candidate the opportunity to mark their territory,’’ Nowlin said.

In one particularly visible case, the Massachusetts Laborers’ District Council hung a three-story Menino banner on a building under construction at 530 Atlantic Ave. downtown. (Not surprisingly, when the building’s owner was told after the fact that such a sign required a $17 permit from City Hall, the owner applied and received one the same day, said a city spokeswoman, Lisa Timberlake.)

Not that everyone whose territory has been marked is eager to stand with their signs. A homeowner in West Roxbury who placed a 4-by-8-foot Menino billboard in a coveted spot on the VFW Parkway said he did not wish to have his name in the paper.

On Washington Street near Forest Hills, a man who had put up a pair of Flaherty 4-by-8’s - one of them a “Good/Better’’ ad pitting a black-and-white Menino against a larger-than-life, full-color Flaherty - paused for a few moments before giving a false name. And on the heavily traveled Jamaicaway, a woman with both a Flaherty and a Yoon sign in her yard said she was uncertain how they got there.

Others stand proudly with their endorsements. In a neighborhood where most of the signs are for Flaherty, Leonard Gilardi flanked the fence at the corner of his South Boston yard, at a prominent Columbia Road location across from the beach, with a pair of Menino 4-by-8’s.

“He’s doing a pretty good job,’’ said Gilardi, a retired mason who cited Menino’s support for development and the business trades.

People have been respectful of his signs, he said. “There’s no wars here. Flaherty’s a nice boy, from a nice family.’’

In Roslindale Village, salon owner Jocelene Thoby displayed a multitude of competing signs, though it had nothing to do with allegiance or strong-arm tactics.

“I’m here to support everybody,’’ said Thoby, a Haitian immigrant who lives in Randolph. “I give my window for everyone that wants to put a sign out.’’

Around the corner, store owner Seymore Green had just one campaign sign in his window, for Yoon.

“First come, first served - Menino’s sleeping,’’ said Green, who decided to back Yoon after the candidate visited his store, where a simple, slogan-free “Yoon for Mayor’’ sign competes for attention with advertisements for cellphone repairs, body jewelry, and custom buttons.

“They just came in, and I recognized him from TV - he lives in Dorchester - and I said, ‘Throw your sign up,’ ’’ said Green. But he wished later that he had asked for a campaign promise first: Free parking for business owners. “I’m getting tickets bad,’’ Green said.

David Abel of the Globe staff contributed to this report.