Montreal City Weblog

Kate 00:37 on 2020-11-16 Permalink Reply  

• walkerp 07:41 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  I was vaguely approving of this move before from a general anti-advertising perspective, but didn’t really think it would have that much of an impact. Now that it is done, I have to say it is a subtle but significant improvement to the view up Avenue du Parc.

  I had the same question. It took them several days to cut up, bring down and then cut up more, the framing for the one on Parc and Villeneuve. That was a serious steel frame. You could have built a bandstand on top of it.

• Ephraim 09:28 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  Short answer… yes. You lose revenue and your building is unprofitable, you get to pass it on. The same way that asking for your apartment to be painted is going to cost you in rent in the long run

• Kate 11:09 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  walkerp, in the video accompanying the piece I linked, Alex Norris is exulting over getting that huge billboard down off the Pierrefonds Apartments building at Park and Villeneuve. Will the building’s structure react to having that much weight taken off it, I wonder.

• Francesco 12:14 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  Is like to know if the city will money up and take a serious crack at graffiti and tags. Virtually every shot in that piece had eyesores at *eye* level. The billboards may have been somewhat ugly, but the visual pollution of graffiti is significantly more jarring.

• Kate 12:16 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  In some cases the billboards made it easier for taggers to climb, so at least in some cases taking down the scaffolding will limit the areas they can hit. I don’t think removing graffiti is a priority at the moment.

• YUL514 13:32 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  Now if only they can do something on cutting down on those horrid tags.

• MarcG 13:44 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  I find tags interesting. There were 2 crews that passed along the riverside in Verdun recently. K6A, who do legal work around town, that big one at Pine and St-Laurent for example, left some really nice cursive handwriting-style ones all over the place in a very pleasant blue/green hue. A week or so later 3 obviously much younger and less experienced writers came through as TMA. One of them writes the name “belly” and actually has some talent – the lines flow well, creative touch with letters, some drawings of faces that are neat. Their friends stuff is trash but not everyone can be an artist, sometimes you’re just a kid hanging out with your friends doing dumb shit. I also like trying to piece the story together. What time was it? How old are they? Where do they live and how did they travel to get here?

• qatzelok 17:55 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  For some young people, tags are the only free speech they have.

  Advertisers have waaaaay more than they should.

• Ephraim 22:46 on 2020-11-16 Permalink

  If tagging is free speech, they need new outlets. Can we suggest tiktok?

• Mark Côté 10:11 on 2020-11-17 Permalink

  “the only free speech they have”

  I dunno what purpose hyperbole like that serves.

• MarcG 14:18 on 2020-11-17 Permalink

  Is people’s only beef with graffiti that they find it unaesthetic? If so I think it might just be low-hanging fruit because cities in general are pretty fucking ugly if you ask me.