CITYHALL

By Dale Duncan

A sign of the times

Not so long ago, city staff and councillors found it easy to cast aside citizen concern over the proliferation of billboards in Toronto. The issue was of such little relevance that the city frequently dismissed its own bylaws meant to keep a leash on the outdoor advertising industry. Applications to erect billboards – even those that were too big, too close together or too obnoxious – were often rubber-stamped. Other times, advertising companies simply put up billboards without the city's permission. So many rules were flagrantly broken, in fact, that by the time anti-billboard activist Rami Tabello (pictured) came onto the scene, exhausted city staff banned him from making Freedom of Information requests to find out which billboards actually have permits (work that city staff should have been doing themselves). Mismanaged files combined with the sheer volume of his requests made tending to other tasks difficult.

No big deal for Tabello. He just started getting information from the ad companies themselves. “Pattison gives me tips on CBS, and CBS gives me tips on Pattison. They hate each other more than they hate me,” Tabello explains, laughing.

On top of forging relationships with secret informants in the outdoor advertising industry, the persistent Tabello, as it turns out, is gaining credibility with city councillors as well. On Nov. 2, the Municipal, Licensing and Standards Committee voted to review the method by which sign permits are issued, to revoke permits where signs have proven to be in violation and to report on increasing permit fees to hire enough staff to actually process applications and do investigations.

None of this will come easy, of course. Though Tabello says he has so far confirmed at least 550 illegal billboards in Toronto, he suspects there to be over 2,000 city-wide. Complicating the problem are companies that have obtained permits by submitting false information, such as the size and location of proposed billboards. City staff are supposed to investigate new billboards within six months after permits are issued, but that doesn't always happen. Many illegal outdoor properties have stayed standing for more than 10 years.

OK, some might say, but who cares? According to a recent Environics poll commissioned by the Beautiful City Billboard Fee Alliance (a coalition of groups advocating for a tax on billboards that would go towards supporting local public art), a whopping 78 per cent of Torontonians surveyed agreed that the city should remove billboards that violate city bylaws, while 68 per cent said the city should work to reduce the number of billboard advertisements and corporate posters in general. These are statistics that city hall will have a hard time ignoring. Tenacious activists like Tabello won't let them forget.

CITY HALL COLUMNIST DALE DUNCAN IS THE MANAGING EDITOR OF SPACING. READ HER CITY HALL BLOG THROUGHOUT THE WEEK AT EYEWEEKLY.COM.

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