Devious Language

It was interesting to hear one of the spokespersons for a G20 protest group speaking about the potential for property damage as a consequence of their protest. He said that property destruction, or, as some choose to call it "property modification," can happen anytime. How convenient! Rather like describing looting as "property liberation." There is no shortage of mischievous or even malicious nonsense in all of this.

Ugly Clutter

Who are the people who clutter every hydro pole and traffic island in Hamilton with signs for house painting, carpet cleaning, exercise classes and sell it yourself real estate? And how do these visual blights appear on our landscape? I seldom see anyone posting them but there must be a veritable army of people out there putting them up. Does all this stuff get posted in the middle of the night?

And, while I am at it, how did we manage to create a society of slobs who plaster a neighbourhood with garage sale signs and then just leave them there to weather and fade for weeks.

Surely, Hamilton, amidst its myriad of bylaws, has something that covers this. And the culprits aren't hard to track down - they all list an address, a telephone number, or an e-mail address.

If bureaucracy can't help us move this blight from those traffic islands that we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars creating, perhaps it is time for ordinary citizens to register their objections. Maybe we should just call up these offenders and tell them that we don't approve. Perhaps someone needs to create a website that highlights the worst offenders without promoting their products. A few photos in the Spectator might help.