City Looks at Restricting Election Signage Locations
Prince George, B.C. – When there is an election, the complaints roll in about the placement of election signs throughout the City. This evening Council for the City of Prince George will look at a new bylaw that would limit where such signs can be placed.
Under the new bylaw, signs would bot be allowed on medians on boulevards. The proposed bylaw would limit election signs to 14 specified locations throughout Prince George and specific areas at each of those locations. If approved, the bylaw would also specify how many signs a private property owner could display on their own property. The bylaw does not apply to highways 16 or 97 as those routes fall under provincial jurisdiction.
The report to council says the new bylaw, if approved, would also apply to signage pro or con an issue that is up for referendum . The City will be holding a referendum this fall on the possibility of borrowing nearly $50 million dollars for a new Fire Hall and new Pool facility.
Below, stars show the 14 locations where signs would be allowed.
Quesnel passed a bylaw in October of 2016, limiting to 6 the number of election signs each candidate could place in that community.
Comments
Some day an aspiring politician will come along with enough nads to run a campaign without planting signs around our town. Even better, come into the internet age and communicate your platform on a $0 budget. You will likely have my vote.
It’s about time! I think everyone will agree on this one.
Keep them away from intersections, at least 100 meters! New drivers and old have enough distractions at intersections without having more junk added.
Forget about new drivers and old, concentrate on the middle age group, with a car full of kids, dogs, cats, hamburgers, coffee, music, phones, etc; etc;
That’s the real distraction.
I say concentrate on the bored drivers, with nothing to keep them awake or paying attention instead of day-dreaming.
One might be able to see whether a person is talking on the phone, petting a dog, talking to a passenger, fiddling with a radio or other fixed gadget in a car …..
BUT, we are not yet able to see when a driver is daydreaming, thinking about a situation at home, at work or at play …..
No kidding, eh? People forget when they’re behind the wheel they
have to concentrate on driving.
Political parties must believe that signs have some bearing on how people vote. If they did not think that, then why would they put out so many signs and pay the costs.
For me the number of signs put out by a party indicate how much money they are willing to waste, and thus gives you an insight into how they will Govern.
“Political parties must believe that signs have some bearing on how people vote.”
Not only that, but the research typically shows that name recognition is important, especially in an election devoid of important issues.
ht tps://www.princeton.edu/csdp/events/Kam04282011/Kam04282011.pdf
from that study:
“…there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.”
– Oscar Wilde
For many contests in which citizens are asked to vote they confront sets of
candidates who may be virtually unknown to them.
What we have shown is that in the absence of alternative, analytic criterion – such as that regarding incumbent/ challenger status – citizens may rely on familiarity as a heuristic. They will use this familiarity heuristic to make inferences about candidates’ viability, and these inferences about viability will shape their voting decisions and degree of affect for the candidates.
From these three studies of name recognition and vote choice, we conclude that Oscar Wilde may have been right – at least when it comes to political candidates in low-information contexts.
I don’t make my decision to vote based on political signs, and I suspect that you don’t either.
So, are we to assume that there are two types of voters, ie: those who vote based on research, party platform, principles, etc; and those who vote based on pretty pictures, sound bites, baby kissing, and other such important criteria.
Really 4 locations on foothills, stick some in your own area, foothills is busy enough with all the traffic, we don’t need to be inundated with signs.
The amount the Libs put up this last election showed me how much money they can waste.
Personally I don’t care how many signs a candidate puts up, as long as they don’t impede site lines for drivers and that they take them down after the campaign; so who really cares? For the not politically astute voter, how is one to get to know who is running? The candidate will need a lot of money to run their campaign if they must rely on advertisements in the local paper or radio/TV stations. So once again only the ones with big dollars behind them have a chance. This could prevent some really good people from attaining political influence. Probably the best approach would be to limit how much each candidate can put into their campaign, this way the playing field could be leveled out. I’m more concerned about the 50 million dollar borrowing plan that was surreptitiously incorporated with the issue of signs. It really worked didn’t it for not one feed back as of yet to put the city another 50+ million in the red!
The City is considering a election sign bylaw? I thought we have more important issues to deal with in the city?
Perhaps our Council members are anticipating another Provincial election, sooner rather than later!
Hart Guy- Quit hoping.
Gee oldman1, look’s like I hit a nerve, haha!
Why so sensitive? ;-)
HG:”Perhaps our Council members are anticipating another Provincial election, sooner rather than later!” No matter when, it is a good idea to do something about the forests of signs before the next election! Quesnel has already taken the (political signs) bull by the horns!
RIP.
As long as candidates are not putting signs in locations that block traffic’s lines of sight, who care how many signs a candidate puts up? Really, what’s the big deal! Do some of you actually drive down the road reading each and every single election sign that you see?
As long as the signs don’t block sight lines, and as long as signs are removed asap after an election, if this is the worst thing that people have to worry about, we are doomed as a species!
Climate change be damned! Plagues and starvation be damned! Nuclear war be damned! Earthquakes, floods, fire, all be damned!
It’s the signs that are going to get us!
Signs, signs, everywhere a sign!
ht tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeT5otk2R1g
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