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Post-War
The hoarding enclosing the Toronto Community Housing building under construction at the corner of Carlton and Mutual Streets is not that much unlike other projects like it around the city: covered with advertising posters for Fido, Toronto Stories, and The National Ballet of Canada, in spite of the “Post No Bills” signs those posters recently buried, it’s a mostly unremarkable site. Still, someone’s had just about enough: they’ve ripped down some of the posters to reveal the “Post No Bills” signs underneath and done some postering of their own, with signs that either re-affirm the rule or suggest that their reader “ask these companies why, when they get a generous tax benefit for advertising from Canadians, that they poster where they have been asked not to.” The homemade 8 1/2 x 11″ posters plastered onto the walls were caught this week by two members of Torontoist’s Flickr Pool, Loozrboy and (former Torontoist editor) Marc Lostracco.
We reached Toronto Community Housing’s Media Relations Manager Jeffrey Ferrier by phone yesterday, and he pointed us to the City’s Municipal Code, which, under Section 363.15 F, states that fences enclosing residential construction and demolition sites must be “maintained…in good repair….and be free of graffiti and posters.” Because the posters—all of them, including the ones criticizing the ads—violate the Code, and because the responsibility to keep the hoarding “in good repair” falls in the builder’s lap, Ferrier says that it’s his organization’s job to get rid of all of ’em. So while protesting a law being broken by breaking that same law is sometimes the most satisfying way to highlight the initial offense, it’s too bad that Toronto Community Housing is now left with the far less fun task of completing what someone else started.
Photos above.