There's a number of reasons I left Orkland. The bunch of loons that run City Council was one of them. I'm bursting with curiosity about the details of this billboard ban. Whatever lies in the details, I'm glad in an entirely non-gloating way that WCC has comparatively saner governance.
Stripping the Orkland CBD of its billboards to enhance its metropolitan beauty is akin to stripping Houston's residents of all their XXXL Nike T-shirts and Lacoste mumu to boost its civic attractiveness. Orkland, without its billboards, is even more of a pit. Without its $70,000,000 a year wallpaper, the CBD will look like the public toilet it is.
What inspired the ACC to such numbskulla lacuna? My guess is dispensations. Dispensations got very popular after the Brothel & Commercial Sex Premises bylaw was passed some years back. Dispensations, like their antecedents in King John's time, are decrees by supersized fees and arbitrariness. Dispensations are Orkland Council's latest money magnet.
I very much doubt that Council is going to similarly wipe advertising off their buses. Advertising cross-subsidises public transport. Are they preparing to hide a massive price-hike somewhere, or are bus billboards and Adshel shelters going to be the only players allowed in the CBD racket?
