Billboard-loving Vancouver politicians lack cojones of Brazilians

Vancouver’s municipal politicians obviously don’t have as much courage as their counterparts in Sao Paolo, Brazil when it comes to dealing with visual pollution.

In the Brazilian city of 11 million, civic authorities have taken the brave step of banning billboards. The law went into effect on January 1, 2007 after a 45-1 vote in favour.

According to a story in the International Herald Tribune, the only dissenting vote came from a politician who worked in the advertising industry.

Planners, architects, and urban-affairs writers have praised the move.

Here in Vancouver, city staff presented a report to council on March 5 outlining an approach for eliminating more than 300 illegal billboards.

Councillors, with the notable exception of COPE’s David Cadman and Ellen Woodsworth, killed the staff recommendation.

Vision Vancouver’s Geoff Meggs led the charge to preserve the billboards with the full backing of his Vision colleagues on council.

Rather than removing these signs, the Vision-controlled council voted instead to review the entire sign bylaw.

This ensures that illegal billboards will remain in place for years—and serve as a visual reminder that Vancouver’s politicians can’t match the cojones of those in Sao Paolo.

Perhaps I should be more precise and use the Portugese term colhoes, because Brazil is a Portugese-speaking country. Yes, Vision Vancouver politicians can't match the colhoes of Sao Paolo's municipal politicos.

If there’s any doubt, check out the video footage of the council vote on billboards at the March 5 planning and environment committee.

For more on the Sao Paolo billboard ban, see:
Sao Paolo goes advertising-free
Sao Paolo: The City That Said No To Advertising
Sao Paulo: A City Without Ads