Spovangelist spends a lot of personal time filling in the communication gaps about what is happening around town. This includes everything from forwarding event emails, writing up Public Service Announcements for KYRS, creating event listings online, and passing out handbills and party invites. Too often people interested in certain things have a really hard time figuring out when they are going on. Too often these same consumers falsely conclude there ISN’T anything happening in Spokane, and act accordingly.
This comment, posted on a Facebook event page, is a perfect example:
There is a noise event coming up in Spokane? Wow, I had no idea Spokane had a noise scene, I love this stuff! I would definitely attend if I hadn’t just moved down to Portland a few weeks ago
During a recent presentation at Greater Spokane Incorporated, Shannon Roach of the VERA Project strongly suggested repealing parts of the local no-posting ordinance that prohibits use of telephone poles for local show and event bulletins. Daniel Iacofano, a principal at MIG Consulting Group, mentioned during a public meeting that signage and way-finding was identified as an area for improvement in drafting the updated Downtown Spokane Plan.
Designated poles could be marked for posting in Hillyard, the Garland and Perry Districts, and key blocks in Downtown Spokane including parts of Riverside, Sprague, and 1st. What do you think? Would poster poles lend a more exciting and urban ethos to Spokane, or would they invite unwanted littering and clutter?
Tags: Breaking Boundaries · Community · Creative Culture · Local Art · Local Music4 Comments
4 responses so far ↓
While I generally think this would be a “hip” addition to downtown Spokane, and an effective one – who is going to oversee the proper implementation of such? What happens when someone stoked on an event puts up postings everywhere and then doesn’t take them down, because once an event is over, it’s harder to go back and remember the work that went into planning it. I just see potential for a big littering problem. That being said, I think it’s worth an experiment.
Just yesterday I saw light poles all over Washington St, just north of the Arena, covered in posters….
Wow! I didn’t realize posting on telephone poles was actually illegal. . . .
Proper implementation? I think this is a basic freedom of expression issue. . . for the previous poster. . .or anyone who has never lived in a city, you don’t need to take down the old fliers because new ones are put over the old ones. . .
I can’t imagine designated poles, I think that it should just be allowed to occur. All of that being said, I don’t think it will add to the vitality of the city. most downtown coffee shops and bars have a ton of fliers/posters. . . people’s only excuse for not knowing what’s going on is not going out in the first place.
Free the poles, higher a few more street cleaners and pay them a respectable wage.
In Seattle, poles are posted like crazy.
In some neighborhoods, the locals HATE the posters. They tear them down first chance they get, be it daily, weekly, whatever. They could care less that its sanctioned by the city, they don’t like to see their neighborhood ‘littered.’
Also in Seattle, there is one company that pretty much runs the postering ‘scene’ (if you will): Poster Giant. They’re the big boys, the poster WHOLE poles, tear down other peoples posters, and (my memory is hazy but I think this is true) have a contract with the city which allows them to ‘legally’ poster the poles.
Throw some posters up on Capitol Hill? Don’t worry, Poster Giant will tear em down by nightfall.
In resistance to this mega-postering conglomerate, Poster Midget has emerged.