"Street Furniture"

Some Illegal Astrals

Saturday, April 28th, 2007 ::: No Comments

IllegalSigns.ca, Spacing Magazine and the Toronto Public Space Committee held this press conference last week. The Toronto Star wrote this article.
All the illegal Astrals we could fit on two pages, from our news release:

Astral Media Wins “Street Furniture” RFP

Monday, April 23rd, 2007 ::: 4 Comments

Surprise. Surprise. Just as we expected, Astral Media has been selected by staff as the winning vendor for the “street furniture” RFP. Here is the Staff Report.
Here is a primer on the issues:
City Council did not authorize this RFP:
RFP Allows 11.4% More Ads Than City Council Approved
A Culture of Non-Compliance:
Astral Media: A Culture of Non-Compliance [...]

Astral Media: A Culture of Non-Compliance With the Law (Part Five)

Monday, April 23rd, 2007 ::: No Comments

Today is Part Five in our never-ending story of Jacques Parisien’s Astral Media and its undisguised contempt for the laws Toronto City Council has put in place to protect our streetscapes from illegal advertising.
We have looked at 46 Spadina Ave. in the past - recently we reported on Astral’s erection of a new illegal sign [...]

Another “Street Furniture” RFP Screw-Up - RFP Allows 11.4% More Ads Than City Council Approved

Friday, April 20th, 2007 ::: 2 Comments

The City’s “Street Furniture” RFP, which has already come under fire for conflict of interest, favoritism, and unethical intimidation from two of the three bidders, may very well have experienced its death knell yesterday.
Sharp volunteers at the Toronto Public Space Committee have discovered that bureaucrats who wrote the RFP did not follow City Council’s direction [...]

Astral Media’s Washroom Designer Calls for “Advertising Everywhere”

Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 ::: No Comments

“Advertising everywhere, that’s how bidders will recover costs.”
-Lars Henriksson of Danfo, Astral Media’s washroom designer, in his presentation to “street furniture” staff (bottom of page 2).

And if that’s not the “street furniture” quote of the day, this is:
“With respect to comprehensive street furniture the best success is with one mode of advertising, such as shelters. [...]