Auckland Wants to Ban Billboards
Auckland City Council is proposing to ban billboards from the inner city. (Hat tip: Kiwiblog)
Auckland City Council plans to ban billboards in the Queen St valley - from Hobson St across to Anzac Ave - including Britomart, Karangahape Rd and the Viaduct Harbour. It is argued the ban will help to make Auckland an “international city”.
If you’ve seen the wonderful film Good Bye Lenin!, you will remember the statues of Lenin being removed from East Berlin and replaced with enormous Coca-Cola banners. It seems Auckland would much rather travel in the opposite direction.
Is this a free speech question? The argument will be made that the proposed regulations are intended to preserve “heritage” buildings and that the restriction of speech is incidental. More likely is that this is a deliberate attempt to restrict a certain class of speech - commercial speech - because some councillors find capitalism distasteful. If that is the case this is most certainly a form of politically motivated censorship.
Ms Fryer said the ban would bring Auckland into line with other “main international cities with European influences”.
I can only assume “European influences” is secret code for socialism.
UPDATE 15/12/06: Auckland City Council last night voted in favour of the ban, which now goes to public consultation.
Julian Pistorius, deputy leader of Libertarianz, has written letters to various Auckland councillors and posted their replies.
December 13th, 2006 at 11:01 am
If you’ve seen the wonderful film Good Bye Lenin!, you will remember the statues of Lenin being removed from East Berlin and replaced with enormous Coca-Cola banners. It seems Auckland would much rather travel in the opposite direction.
Bernard, be quiet! If Clark is reading this, you might just have given her an idea … and if I have to drive past a statue of her every day, I’ll have my therapist send you my bill.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:01 am
There was a time when this would outrage me. But there’s just one thing after another, after another… I have outrage fatigue. Now, I just shrug my shoulders. I’m so, so tired.
December 14th, 2006 at 9:35 am
I am concerned that the underlying reason for all this is an electoral issue, given the success of the billboards from the National Party.
If Labour does decide to pay it back, they will be struggling to afford any rental space on billboards, let alone paying for any graphics.
December 15th, 2006 at 8:47 am
[…] Close on Auckland’s heels, Wellington City Council is also considering restrictions on billboards. (Dominion Post, p.A8, Billboard backlash hits capital). Urban planning director Ernst Zollner says, “increasing complaints about billboards meant Wellington bylaws would be revisited early next year.” Whether that’s because there are more billboards or just more whining isn’t clear. […]
December 18th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
[…] Billboards in downtown Auckland (very East Berlin) […]
February 5th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
[…] Auckland’s crackdown on commerical speech is being extended into the suburbs. I reported in December on the billboard ban proposed by Auckland City Council for the central business district. Today the NZ Herald reported that the decolouring campaign is to be extended across the whole city. […]
February 6th, 2007 at 2:36 am
[…] Proposed ban on billboards in Auckland […]
March 16th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Perhaps the councils people should go abroad if they can let their minds open that far and see what happens in the real world.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:37 am
[…] Submitters on Auckland City Council’s billboard ban should be congratulated for their overwhelming rejection of the city’s plans to regulate commercial speech. It remains to be seen whether the council will take any notice or whether the consultation process is as much of a farce as any of us suspect. […]
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June 2nd, 2007 at 10:06 am
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December 20th, 2007 at 7:10 am
I’ve just been hanging out doing nothing. Basically nothing seems important. I’ve basically been doing nothing to speak of, but eh.
December 21st, 2007 at 12:02 am
I would like to see a continuation of the topic