Halifax man's posters damaged, ripped down — even though they're legal
A man who puts up posters to promote upcoming shows and events recently found that someone marked his posters with a message that says: "Stop pestering our community." Some have also been ripped down.
Josh White runs a company called Pavement Promotion. He walks the streets of Halifax stapling posters to poles as part of the service he provides.
White said he's upset about his posters being defaced and removed because he's following the city's rules: "Don't post on anybody's poster if the event hasn't happened yet, don't put more than one of the same poster on a pole, so you can ... leave room for the next people who are going to come by, so I try to adhere to all these rules," White said.
Posting on city poles has been legal since 2015, provided that certain criteria outlined in the bylaw are met.
One bylaw states that "no persons shall erect any poster on property owned by the municipality, including utility poles," which Halifax Regional Municipality spokesperson Erin DiCarlo admits is "a little confusing."
Fulfilling the rules
"The reason why the bylaw is written this way is because generally you're not permitted to put posters on utility poles unless it is in the right of way and meets all the other requirements that are outlined in the bylaw. So for example, if the utility pole was in the middle of the field, it wouldn't be permitted," said DiCarlo.
Posters are permitted on utility poles, but DiCarlo said there are some rules that must be met, including that the poster cannot be larger than 11 x 17 inches, must be made of paper or lightweight cardboard, and must be placed no higher than two metres above the ground.
The municipality also has 15 kiosks around the city that are available for free to anyone who wants to put up a poster, but White said they're not enough.
Not enough kiosks
"15 designated kiosks are not nearly enough for the amount of events that are happening in Halifax, so kiosks get full almost immediately. They only hold about nine or 10 posters each," White said.
"There is no designated kiosk in the north end and we have vibrant streets like Gottingen and Agricola and there are no poster poles on those streets," he added.
DiCarlo said there are currently no plans to put up any more kiosks.
There's also no tracking system for the defacing of posters.
"Generally that would be done on a reported basis, but we do track anything that's deemed offensive or harmful and that concern can be passed on to the appropriate authority," said DiCarlo.
