SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The long battle to keep utility poles from being blanketed with posters has been renewed after the city issued a warning on its website that violators may be prosecuted.

City councillor Dave McCann stands beside a utility pole bearing a poster on Tuesday. McCann is hoping to keep posters off city poles and instead have them on various kiosks around town. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

Fines start at $25 for this first day the poster is up and $50 for each subsequent day. For businesses, it doubles to $50 for the first day, and then $100 for subsequent days.

Doug Gillard, manager of municipal enforcement, said the fines could go up to a maximum $2,000 for an individual or $10,000 for a business.

To date, no one has been fined for this offence, said Gillard.

"As far as how we're dealing with it right now, we're trying to educate these groups not to use the poles," said Gillard. He encouraged residents who want to put posters up with advertisements and event announcements to try other options, besides posting on poles.

"For advertising there are kiosks around downtown that they can use and there are some businesses have kiosks that you can put advertising in," Gillard said.

City councillor Dave McCann is particularly concerned about the problem.

He said posters on utility poles tend to make the downtown area look messy and unappealing.

"I usually keep almost a daily eye on it," said McCann.

"I realize that a lot of these organizations' advertising may be worthwhile themselves, but the business of taping notices on to utility posts, particularly those on 50 Street downtown, brings an atmosphere of litter around downtown."

He said the elements eventually cause the posters to deteriorate, which then fall to the street, including the tape used to put the posters up.

Although it has been a problem for several years, McCann said fewer posters seem to be going up on poles since the addition of several three-sided kiosks around downtown.

"It does seem to be on the wane," said McCann.

"We set up kiosks on the street as an alternative and we're hoping that they use them."

McCann said he wasn't sure how many kiosks are set up off-hand.

Casey Koyczan, a local artist and musician, said the options available are OK, but not quite up to where they should be.

"The thing is, if you go to Edmonton you have those big wide cylinders downtown and on White Avenue that are just covered in posters and that's a perfect advertising space," said Koyczan.

He said some businesses around town let people promote music events or art shows in their windows, as long as the venue being advertised is not a competing business.

The musical community in Yellowknife is tight-knit enough that mass advertising is not needed, although it would be nice to get the word out a bit more, said Koyczan.

"I guess I'm kind of on the fence about it - we don't necessarily need (utility poles as advertising space) but it would be better if we had them," Koyczan said.

Terry Pamplin, another local artist, said more kiosks would be nice, along with some form of maintenance. He also recommended there be specific sites to advertise arts and other events for business and sales.

McCann said the kiosks do need to be maintained, as there are many old posters littering them, but he said the responsibility should lay with those who post them.

"If I was to make an appeal to the public it would be that those people that are putting up signs on kiosks take them down when they're finished," said McCann.