Three weeks ago, on the night of Sept. 12, someone stole many of the Kamala Harris campaign signs in some Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy neighborhoods. Now it has happened again.

Sometime Wednesday night, Oct. 2, someone stole several Harris and other Democratic signs around the Pastorius Park neighborhood. Residents whose signs went missing noticed that signs for a bipartisan effort to "Save the Train," which is lobbying for more state funding for regional public transit, had been left alone.

"My next-door neighbor's signs are gone, and then other signs are missing. I know there are a lot of signs in my neighborhood and I don't see them anymore," Karen Rile, one of the neighbors whose signs went missing, told the Local. "They specifically left our ‘Save the Train’ sign so I suppose they like to take the train.”

And early Monday morning, Rile said, they were at it again. Rile's next-door neighbor, who wakes up very early, spotted someone attempting to steal their Harris signs. The neighbor spooked the would-be thieves before they could get to Rile's signs, but did not get a good look to identify the culprits.

So far, Rile has been hit twice. Five on Wednesday night, and several more three weeks ago. Although it's not her main complaint, Rile noted that the signs can cost $25 each – plus shipping. And from what she can see, most of the Harris signs within easy reach are now gone. Only those that were placed high up in a tree, or on a roof, remain. 

"It's ridiculous. This is not going to change the voting in our neighborhood in any way. It's just pure vandalism and I can't imagine the point of it, other than to be irritating or intimidating," Rile said. "It's a kind of 'we know where you live' intimidation, and it's very unpleasant. I've never had anything like this happen in all these years."

Sara Kalb, who lives on Willow Grove Avenue, also had her signs stolen last week – along with a Harris bumper sticker that was scraped off her car. She too had already replaced the signs that were stolen three weeks ago. 

Ninth Ward Democratic Leader Jeff Duncan, whose signs went missing three weeks ago, did not have his signs stolen this time but said that a pile of them turned up on the grass near SEPTA’s Highland Avenue rail station. As of 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, the signs were still there, tossed underneath the rail overpass and visible to passersby on West Gravers Lane.

Esther Wyss-Flamm, a former board president of Weavers Way Co-op, spotted the signs while walking by and sifted through them to see whose they were.

"I'm really sad and upset that there's a need to censor our neighborhood in this way. It's just wrong," Wyss-Flamm said. "We don't need this kind of angry response to people showing up with their preferences. We've got a contentious enough election around us, and to have it in our neighborhood in this way makes me sad and kind of pissed off."

Wyss-Flamm's signs have been stolen in the past, along with some of her neighbors'. She intends to let them know about the pile of signs on Highland in case any of them are theirs.

While none of the signs by the Highland SEPTA station belonged to Rile, she coordinated with some of her neighbors to retrieve them and return them to those who lost them. She also reported the theft to the police.

Another neighbor named Linda, who asked to keep her last name private, also had her sign stolen three weeks ago. She quickly replaced her stolen sign, only for it to be stolen again Wednesday night.

"It feels like they're trying to steal my vote, but, you know what? You can tell them, 'You can steal my sign, but you're not going to steal my vote'," Linda told the Local. "Everybody I meet, I say, 'Are you registered to vote?' This is a really important election. The margin of error is less than 100,000, and you need to be registered. And I also say, 'I hope you vote for the coconut tree.'"

Linda told the Local that she has a plan to prevent people from stealing her replacement signs, but wouldn’t say what it is. She laughed and said "it's pretty funny."

Ninth Ward Republican Leader Mark Umansky condemned the thefts, telling the Local that he and the Ninth Ward Republicans are "incredibly opposed" to any sort of sign stealing regardless of who is doing it.

"I've spoken to the most ardent supporters of our candidates, and I can assure you that no one on our side is doing that," Umansky said. "We are very much familiar with people deciding to take our signs down due to them disagreeing with our beliefs. I think it would be fairly pointless for any Republicans to be doing that in the Ninth Ward, considering the signs are everywhere."

Umansky and Duncan had a back-and-forth discussion on the matter through letters written to the Local. Umansky took issue with Duncan's comment in the Local's article three weeks ago calling the sign stealing a "juvenile stunt that I've come to expect from the Republicans." In his letter, Umansky said he was shocked by Duncan's comments and that Republicans in Chestnut Hill hesitate to openly voice their political views due to the "blatant intolerance of their own neighbors."

Duncan responded with a letter of his own, saying that he was pleased to hear that Umansky "shares my distaste for those who steal political signs" but continues to believe that MAGA Republicans were responsible for the theft.

Mindy Brown, who spoke to the Local three weeks ago about her stolen signs, said she spotted a group of teenagers destroying signs a few weeks prior but did not think they were responsible for the large-scale thefts.

Umansky told the Local that he had no clue who stole the signs but suggested that it could be the same teenagers spotted previously. He said that people who blame Republicans are "disregarding that fact." 

Due to the selective nature of the thefts, Duncan disagrees. 

"The fact that 'Save the Trains' signs were untouched while signs expressing support for Kamala Harris and other Democrats were stolen strongly suggests this was politically motivated," Duncan told the Local.