Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle
Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle wants the FCUK sign removed. Picture: Jay Town Source: Herald Sun
IT'S always a pleasure returning to the world's most liveable city. But on Friday - after a quick trip to Canberra - as I drove towards the Bolte Bridge, there it was. As big and offensive as ever.
It is on the left: 45m long and 15m high.
FCUK.
Honestly.
Do the advertisers think this is clever? That the transposition of two letters somehow makes this a sophisticated word play rather than a cheap obscenity?
It is not clever. It is not funny. It is an insulting and gratuitous blot on our urban landscape.
When this sign was first brought to my attention, we did some investigation at the City of Melbourne. It appears it migrated to us from the City of Moonee Valley when a local government boundary changed in 2008.
Moonee Valley Council gave the sign a planning permit in October 2002.
We couldn't find any documentation. When we inquired further, we found that the Moonee Valley permit was valid only until 2006. We immediately asked that the sign be taken down.
A lawyer acting on FCUK's behalf advised the City of Melbourne that his client had engaged planning consultants to apply for a permit extension.
Changes to State Government regulations back in 2001 mean that FCUK can now apply to extend its original permit until October 2022.
We got outflanked by astute lawyers. The moment they applied for an extension of the "existing" permit, they were protected and the sign can remain, even though it has not had a valid permit since 2006.
The thing that makes me most angry, though, is we have no control over the content of the sign - or indeed any sign. Content is not regulated by our planning system. It is governed by the Advertising Standards Board.
The many surveys by the Advertising Standards Board into its own activities consistently find that the board's decisions about what is appropriate are far more permissive than community standards.
So what can we do about FCUK? We could try refusing a permit extension for the billboard. But that can only be on planning grounds under the planning scheme, because it is a "major promotional sign".
It seems inexplicable, but apparently those 2001 changes to state planning law mean the company can claim a valid permit (even though it expired in 2006) and apply for an extension for 10 more years.
We can refuse the extension and wind up in VCAT, where we will probably lose.
Because of slippery law, changes to guidelines, previous City of Moonee Valley oversight and a continuation of self-regulation, I wonder if there is anything we can do about the content of the sign, which remains offensive and inappropriate.
It is designed to titillate and embolden the 11-year-old boy who looks up the anagram of this word in the dictionary as an amusing pastime.
My feeling is that we should try to refuse the permit.
Or maybe we can be clever: allow a permit for the sign, but make it the size of a postage stamp.
But in the end, perhaps our best recourse is people power.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan in 1987: "Pull down this sign."
Source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/tear-down-offensive-fcuk-sign-says-robert-doyle/story-fn7x8me2-1226128850796
No comments:
Post a Comment