New website tracks illegal signs in Toronto

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Illegalsigns.ca is an excellent new advocacy site which I spotted on a Spacing post. It chronicles the presence of illegal commercial signs - usually "third party", not directly associated with the business it is erected on.

The signs can be overlarge, obscuring windows, too close to another large sign and so on. Crucially it points out how some companies re-erect such signs after being told to remove them by Toronto Municipal Licencing and Standards (MLS). The activists have obtained copies of the inspector work records and chronicle the failings of the advertises and those meant to regulate them.

I think there are some horrific signs in Toronto, especially the rooftop signs erected on unsightly steel gantries. The numbers of signs already identified as illegal (Google mashup) is pretty eye watering, especially near City Hall. Unlike the harder-line members of groups like the Toronto Public Space Committee, I am not against commercial advertising per se, especially when it supports City services, but there are rules to keep things reasonable and they seem to be flouted by various firms.

Comments

Unknown said…
Pardon the comment spam, but I thought you might be interested in a meetup for politically oriented bloggers that we're having as part of the lead-up to the mesh conference in May (www.meshconference.com).

It's at the Charlotte Room near King and Spadina, May 9th starting at about 6 p.m. Free snacks and great conversation about how the Web is affecting society and the political process.
Wed Apr 11, 09:56:00 pm GMT-4
jmnlman said…
You'd think considering the complaining about how they have no money ticketing these people wold be easy.
Sun Apr 15, 06:39:00 pm GMT-4
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