Take the Giant Screen Down Now: An Insult to the Terry Fox Memorial

Chosen as a 'Top letter' from amongst hundreds of complaint letters and emails received about the giant digital billboards at BC Place Stadium:

Subject: 'An Insult to the Terry Fox Memorial'

Minister Pat Bell,

As a BC resident, I wish to express my disapproval regarding BC PavCo's irresponsible decision to erect a 2000 square-foot high-definition LED video screen at Terry Fox Plaza in September 2011.

As a visitor to Vancouver I stayed at a residence in the area, in a room facing the video screen. I could not believe how intrusive the sign was. It lighted up the whole room and was very distracting as it changed regularly. It is really an insult to the Monument that has been built to Terry Fox.

I have taken note of the advertisers and will do my best to avoid those products.

I believe that this giant screen at Terry Fox Plaza needs to be removed for one or more of the following reasons:

1. The giant video screen violates several sections of the City of Vancouver Sign Bylaw.
2. The Vancouver City Mayor has requested that BC PavCo comply with Vancouver City Bylaws and take the giant video screen down.
3. The giant video screen is 10 times the allowable billboard size and was irresponsibly positioned directly in front of hundreds of glass residential homes.
4. The bright flashing light from the giant video screen threatens the health and well-being of neighbouring residents.
5. The advertisement on the giant video screen greatly dishonours the legacy of Terry Fox by overshadowing the Terry Fox memorial with Telus, Budweiser and Pepsi slogans.
6. The giant video screen was secretly erected without any City consultation, community consultation or community impact assessment.
7. The giant video screen devalues Vancouver and damages the visual appeal of our beautiful cityscapes.
8. The giant video screen runs contrary to Vancouver's great efforts and progress towards becoming the Greenest City in the world.

I trust that you will immediately take action to rectify this situation and instruct BC PavCo to take the giant screen down now.

Sincerely,
Concerned BC resident and Voter

Taking inventory of complaints received

The following agencies, departments and organisations have been made known to our organisation as having received complaints about the giant video screen at Terry Fox Plaza:

- Premier Christy Clark’s office
- Minister Pat Bell's office (PavCo Minister)
- Deputy Minister Dana Hayden’s office
- MLA Mary McNeil's office (False Creek N)
- MLA Adrian Dix (Vancouver Kingsway)
- MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert (West-End)
- MLA Jenny Kwan (Mount Pleasant)
- MP Libby Davies (Vancouver East)
- MP Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre)
- BC Ombudsperson office

- BC Information and Privacy Commissioner
- BC PavCo’s Executive Management
- BC PavCo’s Chair and Board of Directors
- BC PavCo's marketing department
- BC PavCo's general inquiries office
- Pace Group Communications' office
- Mayor Gregor Robertson's office
- City Councillor Geoff Meggs' office
- City Councillor Andrea Reimer’s office
- Various other City Councillor's offices

- City Manager Penny Ballem

- City General Manager Brenda Prosken

- City Parks Commissioner Constance Barnes
- City Planning Department

- City Real Estate Services Department

- City Development Permit Board
- Enquiries Centre for Billboard Permitting
- City's Board of Variance office
- Chief Building Inspector's office
- Deputy Chief Building Official's office
- City Noise Complaints office
- City 311 Hotline

- City Legal Services Department

- Chief Medical Officer, Van Coastal Health
- Vancouver Police Department

- Insurance Corporation of BC (ICBC)

- False Creek Residents Association
- Vancouver Public Space Network
- Budweiser (Labatt)
- PepsiCo
- Dr Pepper (Snapple Group)
- The Province News
- Telus Corporation

Quick summary of the situation

BC PavCo, a BC provincial agency, decided in September 2011 to contravene several sections of the Vancouver City Signage By-laws (meant to protect citizens from exactly this type of billboard harassment) by erecting the biggest baddest high-definition LED giant video screen in all of Vancouver at Terry Fox Plaza. This was done for the sole purpose of generating revenues by forcibly pumping Telus, Budweiser and Pepsi advertising at the local community, with no consideration paid to the fact that this daily flashing assault would also be pumped into the living rooms, across dinner tables and into the children's bedrooms of residents in the immediately adjacent glass residential community. PavCo's response to the outcry from this community demanding that the screen be moved elsewhere so that it is not directly facing hundreds of glass residential homes? – ‘Too Bad For You’

BC PavCo's Freedom of Information Act violation

...BC PavCo CEO Warren Buckley was legally required to provide documents proving the ownership of the giant video screen at Terry Fox Plaza. Under a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by citizen’s group 'TtGSDN', PavCo’s deadline to confirm the identity of the screen’s true owner/operator was January 23, 2012. Remarkably, in December 2011 Deputy Minister of JTI Dana Hayden told MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert that Telus Corporation is the true owner and operator of all three outdoor screens at BC Place Stadium. Interestingly, neither Telus nor PavCo have since asked the press for a retraction of media reports suggesting the same. Will Warren Buckley try to continue hiding these documents from the public despite repeated attempts by the media and the public to acquire them? The Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia is now investigating PavCo's non-compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.