Can election signs be banned?

[Lucifer]

I swear, I saw about ten small "Barb Higgins for Mayor" signs in a row. I can understand one here, and one there, but ten in a row?

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

I'd rather them be electronic. Like on CP here. I wouldn't mind if they had something that over rode popup blockers and gave me 100 popups every click. Its only once for 2 months every 4 years. hehhee

hmmmmm that would still be less annoying than reading the Crawford and Jeremy whining

Dear God, please no. I'd rather have to look at them than be forced to deal with a gazillion popups.

Popup advertisements are horrible.

[BlackArcher101]

I believe in Lethbridge they actually limit the locations of the signs. You won't find them in certain locations so as not to remove the appeal of the local scenery.

[Jimmy Stang]

I have to admit that I wasn't expecting them to clean up this quickly, but the majority of those signs have disappeared already. It seemed like even the morning after the election there were fewer, and by the end of the day 90% were gone.

[Slava]

I think that they should not allow them on public property in general. Either that or just allow them in certain areas. The bylaws are basically not followed much during the election anyway, and they either need to enforce the rules strictly or disallow signs on public property.

It won't cause any issues for candidates to get their message out, just make it so that they have to use other means of promotion.

[Ramsayfarian]

I've noticed on 12 Ave volunteers have removed Higgin's placard but have left the metal stake still in the ground.

[ken0042]

^^ Sounds like somebody who works in a union took the instructions "remove the signs" too literrally.

[getbak]

Here's the City's election sign bylaw: http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server....n+Signage+.htm

As of 8am this morning (36 after the polls closed), all election signage on both public and private land must be removed.

You can call 311 to report any bylaw infractions.

Luckily, my daily commute takes me down 16th Ave east of 6 St E and Deerfoot, which are both restricted roadways for signs, so I hardly saw any signage at all. Hawksworth put some signs along 16th in the prohibited area, so I reported them. They were still there as of last night, so I don't know if Bylaw enforcement actually does anything with the complaints.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by getbak

Here's the City's election sign bylaw: http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server....n+Signage+.htm

As of 8am this morning (36 after the polls closed), all election signage on both public and private land must be removed.

You can call 311 to report any bylaw infractions.

Luckily, my daily commute takes me down 16th Ave east of 6 St E and Deerfoot, which are both restricted roadways for signs, so I hardly saw any signage at all. Hawksworth put some signs along 16th in the prohibited area, so I reported them. They were still there as of last night, so I don't know if Bylaw enforcement actually does anything with the complaints.

Oh man, I didn't realise it was 36 hours! For some reason I had been thinking 72. I will go out this afternoon and get the rest of them I guess!

[Torture]

The letter I got with my Nenshi sign said I had 3 days to remove it and to just put it in my blue bin.

Wasn't even an issue though because somebody came and cleaned it up the day after the election.

[habernac]

hey McIver: you lost. You have no job so I presume you have loads of time to get out there and remove your eye sore election signs. So how about you do that?

[Mazrim]

Yup, still lots of those huge McIver signs out there.

[algernon]

Bylaw must be busy, as I phoned about an Alderman sign around the corner from my house yesterday morning. Still there, as of now.

[FlameOn]

Isn't it something like a $100 fine per sign now. I counted 15 signs (mostly McIver) on my 12km commute to work. Calgary's 5000 sq km so more than 500000 in city coffers paid from the McIver's developer buddies. McIver's campaign warchest can still be put to good use!

[DementedReality]

I see alot of McIver signs still, but all others are down.

The problem with Muni elections is there is no party to vote for. At least in PRov and Fed elections, if I dont recognize a candidate, I can at least have an idea of where they probably stand on an issue by virtue of their party.

This is not the case in Muni, so the politicians know that people are generally dumb and will vote for a name they recognize over actually learning about the canadidate. This is why there are so many signs, he who has the most signs (exposure) will win.

Is that not what happened here? Nenshi was able to get his name out the most and won. Its not just signs, but all the junk mail that I got as well!

The printers sure made a lot of money this election and none of the candidates could take a green stance and not print as they would surely never get elected without that exposure.

I think the signs/junk mail strategy expose a huge hole in the election process. People are getting voted in (or staying Alderman) simply by having a bigger budget then the next guy.

That said Nenshi did not have the budget of McIver, he just mastered the basic principle using some less expensive mediums and engaging young voters who may have otherwise not voted.

Just my 88cents.