That photo at College and Bathurst illustrates the completely ruinous effect out-of-control nightclub and other postering has on the look of the city. Postering, on that scale, by definition cheapens and degrades the city by commercializing it to a ridiculous degree. I think this culture is so ingrained now that, whereas in the downtown it's slapping up ads on poles and other street furniture, I've noticed in parts of Scarborough and North York that there are now many bus shelters that are wallpapered in ads for driving schools and other businesses such that you literally cannot see out them anymore. It's analogous to piles of junk mail and spam slapped up onto street furniture, and is a perfect illustration of what I said earlier, that this city has absolutely no pride, no restraint, no interest in maintaining a public realm that, even if slightly shopworn, at least isn't further assaulted by endless and opportunistic commercialism. It sucks away any dignity that the already-shabby look of the city south of Bloor has, and in my opinion is one the chief reasons, if not *the* chief reason, why the city looks as bad as it does. I'm almost certain that many of the metal poles that are rusted out haven't been painted over or replaced because I can see someone in the city bureaucracy saying, why bother when as soon as we do it, the "think in spanish" people or some nightclub or an essay mill is going to plaster them with ads the second the paint dries or the pole is replaced. I can't blame the city for that, but it doesn't make it right. It only reflects upon the timidity and cowardice of the city to tackle this problem.
I've seen archival photos of similar stretches of Queen, Bloor, King, etc. from 30-40 years ago (even 15) that have pretty much the same street furniture they have now with regards to poles and light standards (the poles along that stretch of College, for example, are in some cases fifty years old), and things look, at a minimum, more dignified and clutter-free, if not exactly cutting edge. But add thousands upon thousands of obnoxious, ratty, peeling and fading ads slapped up everywhere, and what was shopworn, if tidy, descends into utter squalor and neglect.
But again, this seems to be what so many people in this city want. And I think this is so ingrained now that yes, we can have a new AGO built upon a streetscape of tired, postered-over, rusted-out, scratched-out light poles and street furniture whose function seems to be chiefly as a place to put up ads for nightclubs, language schools, essay mills, etc and no one bats an eye, really, because we're so inured to seeing these ads glued up everywhere that I don't think many people living in this city now remember a time when you didn't see an ad put up somewhere every few feet. The shock of seeing old pictures without these ads everywhere is like watching a hockey game circa 1980, when the boards and ice surfaces were clean and free of sales pitches. It's depressing, but what can you do? Gotta protect "public space", right? *sarcasm level: high*
I don't know of any other city that allows this rampant, relentless and gratuitous advertising to happen unchecked across such a wide swath of its core areas, financial and cultural. I have *never* seen this anywhere else, and it's an embarrassment and a disgrace and I have no idea why this city tolerates it. (I have distinct memories of walking around NYU, which bleeds into the city the same way U of T does, and not seeing a *single* ad taped or glued up anywhere, and thinking how much more dignified and worth of respect the campus is in comparison to what the area around U of T looks like, which is wallpapered in junk and spam, which makes the dignified architecture of the campus that much more...I don't know, sad in some way, certainly diminished in comparison). So what other conclusion *can* I draw other than the people who run this city, and a large chunk of the people who live in it (at least downtown), just don't give a shit? I think now it seems that Toronto is now in a permanent state of half-assedness, with some attractive buildings here and there operating as tiny islands of dignity and aesthetic aspiration in a sea of messy clutter and spam. So add this to an already pervasive air of neglect and there you are. I've given up on the city doing any better, and so this thread, unfortunately, is just so much farting in the wind.
