The Gazette - Montreal, Thursday, February 3, 2000


Downtown billboard can stay, city says Montreal will not be forcing a local company to remove the giant-screen television billboard it has put up downtown, despite changes to the city’s bylaws banning that type of sign. City permits-department spokesman Francois Lemay said yesterday that after consulting with their legal department, city officials decided they would not ask Spotvision, the company that installed the sign, to remove it.

“When they put up the sign they were not in violation of the law so we cannot go back and ask them to remove it now,” Lemay said. The city’s executive committee decided last week to close the loophole that allowed Spotvision to install the sign in a second-floor window at the corner of Drummond and Ste. Catherine Sts. The 2-by-4 meter screen runs 10-second ads every three minutes, in full view of passersby. The city has banned so-called “animated billboards” for years, but only on the outside of buildings. In this case the billboard was installed inside a building so it was not officially breaking the rules. When they announced last week that they will be closing the loophole by forbidding such signs on the inside of buildings as well, city officials justified the ban by saying this type of sign can be a hazard for motorists and a blemish on the urban landscape.

READY TO FIGHT

The president of Spotvision, Mimo Kabbara, said yesterday that he is pleased the city has decided not to try to take the sign down, because he was ready to fight Montreal in court for the right to have his sign up. “We had already consulted with our lawyers and we were ready to fight this,” he said. Still, the city has effectively prevented Kabbara and others from putting up any similar signs in Montreal, a decision he called close-minded.

“Obviously something like this shouldn’t go up in Old Montreal or in a residential neighbourhood,” Kabbara said. “But there are certain areas of the city where the signs should be allowed, like on Ste. Catherine St.”

Kabbara also said the idea that his sign should be targeted by the city as unsightly is ridiculous, particularly considering some of the notorious signs on Ste. Catherine St. advertising for strip clubs. Kabbara said: “All around the city, and especially on Ste. Catherine St., are hundreds of signs and giant advertisements featuring half-naked women…What is more degrading to our city’s image?”