Thursday, November 20,1980. by TOM HAWTHORN and SUR] RATTAN Vancouver - The three dark clothed men sitting in the greasy spoon tucked among the dozens of West End highrises gulped back the cooling remains of their cof- fees before steeling the nerve to head out into the night. One of the team planted himself at the head of the street, looking out at the wide boulevard. The other two scurried down the street stopping briefly at each light standard, like dogs staking their territory. Their work completed 10 minutes later, they stood back taking one admiring look at their handi- work before disappearing in- to the night mist. The three had reason to be cautious. For trying to cheaply publicize their the- atre troupe’s latest effort, they faced a penalty of $2,000 or three months in jail. They are poster people. It was a typically warm July evening when Vancou- ver’s city council, almost exclusively from the city’s well-to-do west side, decided that the ‘‘attachment of pos- ters to poles and _ street furniture is becoming wide- spread, making the fixtures unsightly.’’ While opponents of the new bylaw puzzled over how Vancouver's institution green standards could poss- ibly be anything other than unsightly, posters or no pos- ters, the city swung into action against the modern- day minstrels. Perhaps ex- pecting the lukewarm re- sponse of city police, the city sent letters to businessmen urging them to use a special telephone line to inform on people spotted putting up posters. The bylaw would have attracted hardly a ripple in a city like Edmonton, where alternative groups are about as evident as opposition in the legislature. But an entire subculture of people-orient- ed groups--religious, polit- ical, musical, theatrical and feminist-- has mushroomed in Vancouver and _ relies heavy on the advertising posters provide. Vancouver- ites do not read newspapers to get the latest news on rallies and concerts; they check the light fixtures on the street. “The only access groups have to advertising is through posters due to low budgets,’’ says Don Stewart, a businessman taking the bylaw to court. ‘‘This sort of banning is a serious problem for these groups. In a demo- cratic society communicating your views must be brought across and the only way of advertising them is through postering.’’ The issue immediately be- came one of freedom of speech. The poster people did not wait long to take on city hall. A couple of dozen protest- ors arrived. at the grey ——- The Other Press page seven Che Vancouver Sun THISISA POSTER IT HAS A RIGHT TO BE HERE Street posters serve Vancouverites by notifying Sok them ot val Alliance Canadian Coalition tor Nuclear Responsibility e Carnegie Centre Advisory Commitiee & Carouse! Theatre ¢ Centre Culturet e. ChY yy OF VANCOUVER NOTICE The China syndrome ear World * Commit- e for the Deiense of Human Rights in Chiie ¢ Dance in Canada (BC Region) ¢ Deep Gossip DOA e Downtown Eas! side Residents Association ¢ Green Tnumbd Players ¢ indus- tral Workers of the We'd Law Union of BC ¢ Lierarv Storetrant e Macieod s Books © Makara e Medern Dance WHAT YOU CAN DO Call or write vour alderman or City Halli Get vour community grouo or organization :o endorse t’ Feoples of this poster & moveinforma’.cn ca Resource: Contre tn ¢ Sports Information Wise, Public Meetings ¢ Art Snows © Music B. Photo Exhibits ¢ Law Classes (Peo, Community Gatherings © Stree Meetings * Concerts ® Wo Rights Information ¢ Edu, thé intent behind the poster by-law, the seriminate against the city’s less affluent and church eroups, artists, and political wations —anvone, in short, who can'tafford a favo minute spoton CBC television, a quarter-page ad mia daily newspaper, or a $2,000 fine.“ Linda Hossie, Vancouver Sun City Hall Peporter, Music Co-op © New Play Centre ¢ Octopus Books Open Road Newsjoura! Pacific Lite Community e® Vance Pointed Sticks © Press Gang ¢ Prisoners GroupiP RG)® Pulp Press e Rape Relete - Stage 35 ¢ Street Beat Production Subhum poster Right. June 26, 1980 (p. 5) Centre ® Vancouver Folk Fectival e Vancouver Industral Writers Union e souver Men Aquinst Rape © Vancouver Society for Early Music © Vancouver Status of Women © Vancouver Wormer s Book. tore © Vancouver Women 5 Heath Collective & Video inn © Waterfront Theatres Westcoast Actors @ Weer teere Front Ledge ediface which serves as city hall a few weeks later. They sat noisily in the public galleries, while Vancouver mayor Jack Volrich, who has been described as someone who combs his hair with buttered toast, scowled from his podium. The city’s gaudy chains of office swung as he leaned forward to get a better look at the protestors, who were by now walking into the council chambers. While one fellow taped one of the familiar yellow ‘“‘This is a Poster: It Has A ‘ Right To Be Here’’ posters behind the mayor, Volrich stared at the television cam- eras and bleated: ‘‘You are interfering and trampling on the rights -- the democratic rights -- of the people.”’ Sensing Volrich would look ridiculous on the six o’clock news, the poster people left. In their euphoria at having challeng- ed council in the chambers, they went outside and began sticking yellow posters on the light standards around city hall. Stewart was nab- bed by a policeman and charged with postering. But instead of being hit with a $2,000 fine, Stewart succeeded in having the bylaw quashed and was even awarded $700 of the city’s money for having acted in . the public interest. It was a brief victory. Council, which found its bylaw ruled invalid because of a legal flaw, sent its lawyers to work and came up with a new bylaw the very next day. This one legalized traffic and parking notices, as well as advertising signs in bus kiosks. Only one alderman, not standing for office in this month’s civic election, opposed the move. By this time more than 80 groups had banded together as the poster people. Few could resist the draw of such a visually exiting protest, while at the same _ time harassing a_ tight-fisted council which had denied funding to many cultural and community groups. Punk bands and anarchists held fund-raising concerts, while theatre troupe’s donated the proceeds of special perform- ances . Almost $3,000 was raised to pay for the yellow posters and create adefence. fund. The protest groups be- came cocky. They wanted to be. ticketed under the new bylaw, figuring that it too would be invalidated in court. Stewart and others gathered at a major inter- section and put up posters for an hour. No police arriv- ed, so they called the special police line to report the posterings. Still nothing. The groups then hopped onto a bus and headed for the city’s police station, where they began postering in earnest. A half a dozen patrol cars drove by. The officers zealously looked the other way. Finally, a police- woman took it upon herself to pinch the pesky poster people. The case is scheduled to go before the B.C. provincial court just prior to the muni- cipal election date. Says Stewart: ‘‘We feel it’s going to go a few more rounds yet. It’s had its ups and downs, three and a half months of them so far.’’ “Council has shown it’s not willing to compromise, but yeah, we do feel we will win the case,’’ says Stewart, who feels that he has an “ron clad case.’’ With interest in the mat- ter flagging, the poster people decided to stage a protest called the ‘‘Return of the poster people.’’ Well advertised by illegal posters stuck up virtually every- where in the city, reflecting the self-assuredness of a group that knows it is in the right, 75 people and all the city’s media attended the unfurling of a 1,100-foot roll of brown paper around city hall. It was billed as the world’s largest poster. Joking and laughing as they encircled the building with. the poster complete with scrawled slogans, they triumphantly completed the link with a strip reading: “You can fight city hall.’’ It was a fine piece of civil disobedience. Even the three policemen _ specially assigned to watch the pro- test had to chuckle with the demonstrators, as they cau- tioned one another not to trample the flowers at the base of city hall. Two floors above the protest, mayor Volrich stonily presided over a regular meeting of council, oblivious to posters stuck to the main entrance which read: ‘‘Volrich is visual clut- ter.”’ The bylaw’s opponents also hint that they have a legal ace up their sleeves, whispering of a _ surprise legal defence possible be- cause they feel the city, in its indecent haste to put the bylaw back on ‘the books, goofed again. Opponents were also pleas antly surprised when a Sask- atchewan provincial court judge ruled that Saskatoon’s poster bylaw was discrimin- atory. A fellow by the name of Bob Fink was arrested under a—bylaw similar to Vancouver’s after putting up a couple of anti-nuclear posters. Judge Marion Edge ruled that ‘‘city council ap- pears to have unfettered discretion in deciding what persons or groups will have access to city property for postering...I am_ satisfied that a bylaw has merely to have the potential or power to discriminate...to be de- clared discriminatory.’’ Until the matter comes up before the courts, the poster people plan to continue past- ing up posters publicizing their cause as well as the regular activities of the groups involved. In a satisfy- ing twist, they have found that their posters aren’t being covered up as usually happens during an election campaign. Seems the can- didates fear being ticketed.