Random Access

“Sign, sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign.”

Not only can Donald Barber read the sign but he can read the sign bylaw too. He probably has it memorized by now.
Like many people, Barber is bothered by the proliferation of illegal signs he sees all over Mississauga. Unlike most people, the mayoral candidate does something about it.
He badgers the bylaw officials to enforce the regulations, he gets in touch with offending real estate companies who have a tendency to flout the rules on weekends when the enforcement staff is reduced or off-duty and, as of the weekend, he augments many of the illegal signs with his own campaign literature.
Barber loosely taped many of his own campaign posters on top of a host of illegal signs over the weekend, an intriguing and high-handed strategy that he says is a product of his frustration getting City Hall to enforce the rules.
When phone calls and e-mails didn’t bring the action he wanted, Barber found a sure-fire method of getting response from City staff. He posted photos on his web site (The modestly titled The Democratic Reporter) of a bunch of illegal signs. “It’s amazing how they react when you put up some photos,” said Barber.
Especially when one of the photos, advertising an open house at a city centre site, was so close to City Hall that you could see the side doors.
Barber’s vigilantism brought only one response from the sign owners, from one angry company that said it had permits for its A-frame signs and would take legal action if he committed any more acts of vandalism.
In his response, Barber said there may have been permits for the signs. However, they were still erected where they were banned. “And, yes, I will be postering your signs in future with notices that they are illegal until such time as you obey the law,” he snorted.
As for the sign-owners whose material he defaced and who didn’t complain, Barber said, “the others see the wisdom in being quiet.”
And you thought that City Hall hired our bylaw enforcement officials.
The stakes were upped Monday when a notice of bylaw infraction was delivered to the Barber residence from the City of Mississauga, pointing out that a pile of plastic bags, tarps, corrugated metal, etc. on the property were in violation of City regulations.
The material is in a spot where no one but a single neighbour would even see it, said Barber. It’s mostly brush that is going to be composted, said the candidate, who finds the timing of the notice, “very suspicious.” He suspects it’s politically motivated.
The mess doesn’t look too atypical of many other backyards, according to photos Barber put up on his site.
Looks like somebody is watching The Watcher.
• • •
When the municipal campaign started, Carolyn Parrish had to abandon her post on the Michael Coren Show Wednesday nights at 6 p.m. on CTS where she dispensed opinions on the issues of the day with her usual verve, as the token left-winger on the daily news line.
Despite the fact the show wanted her to stay on, CRTC regulations prohibit candidates from getting free air time in such a situation.
So it irked Parrish that one of her opponents in the Ward 6 council race, Matanat Khan, a Sunshine Radio broadcaster on ethnic radio, has been on the air throughout the campaign. This week Parrish did something about it. She filed an official complaint with the CRTC.
This comes on the heels of the former MP’s accusation — firmly denied by an indignant Khan — that he was paid to take his campaign from ward 10 to ward 6.
Maybe the pair of them can share a little air time after the election. How about a panel discussion on ethics and the influence of the media in municipal balloting?