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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Scrubbing a city sidewalk was not the way Rebecca Alty imagined spending her night on Thursday.

Rebecca Alty scrubs one of her graffiti-like campaign signs off the sidewalk at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and 52 Street on Thursday night. Alty says she received a call the day after she tagged a few spots near the Greenstone Building downtown from the city telling her to wash the signs off, or pay for the city to do ti for her. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo

"It's not exactly what I want to be doing," Alty said with a chuckle at about 9:30 p.m. as she worked a metal scrub brush over a small chalk sign she had painted on the sidewalk the day before near the intersection of Franklin Ave and 52 Street.

Alty had been out knocking on doors between 6:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., introducing herself as a city council candidate and speaking with residents. A quick trip home for dinner and a rest, and it was back to the streets – though the later trip was made more of necessity than by choice.

The drawings Alty cleaned up were small chalk slogans, no larger than a square-foot in size, that read "Vote Alty" in graffiti-tag style. Alty had been brainstorming alternative advertising ideas for her run for city council when a roommate suggested chalk.

"First off, I'm a young candidate, so I was looking for ways to get my name out without spending an arm and a leg," she said.

However, the day after Alty spray-chalked her first four signs around a pedestrian-friendly area of the downtown core, the City of Yellowknife phoned to to tell her that she needed to clean off the chalk or the city would do it for her and send her the bill. She was told that her signs were in violation of the Local Authority Elections Act because they were distracting to drivers.

"I was annoyed and frustrated because, again, I didn't want to spend a ton of money on running for city council," said Alty.

"I want to make a difference in the city, but not by spending thousands of my own dollars, you know?

"I also think it's interesting that all the candidates are all about 'fiscal responsibility' and then they go and buy a couple thousand dollars worth of signs for a month. So, to be fiscally responsible, I paid $6 and put some chalk on the sidewalk."

Alty said she is still confused about exactly what part of her signs was illegal. "Is it that it's graffiti? It's chalk. I don't understand, kids do it all the time," she said. "The confusing traffic line is ridiculous because these little tiny signs are less distracting for traffic than those giant monster signs."

In an e-mailed response to Yellowknifer, city spokesperson Nalini Naidoo stated: "Ms. Alty and the City of Yellowknife have discussed the election signage guidelines, specifically in relation to use of temporary materials, as well as safety guidelines as identified in the city’s zoning by-law, including the use of city roads and sidewalks."

For now, Alty is bowing to the city's request and has purchased three large campaign signs, which she got on sale at $275 apiece.

"I was trying to stick to my platform and stuff but, if there's bylaws against that then I'll change my plan,” said Alty.

"On one hand, I don't want to make a big deal out of this, but I think it demonstrates how hard it can be to run in an alternative way.”

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