A group calling itself Free Speech Seattle has launched a petition drive to repeal the anti-postering ordinance passed by the Seattle City Council in 1993. The group aims to get 17,000 valid signatures to put an initiative on the ballot repealing the law which outlaws attaching a poster to a "utility pole, lamp post, City-owned structure, or City-owned tree or shrubbery in any public place." (SMC 15.48.100)

This ordinance, passed with much hullabaloo about threats to utility worker safety is a bane on the local music and arts scene. It's a stupid law, and it should go away. Apart from harming musicians and music venues, the law also impinges on poetry readings, arts events and lost pet notices. The empty pole space, holding up some wires or streetlights, goes unused and wasted. If your dog has run away, just rent a billboard from Ackerly or put up a web page.

As I recall, the rationale for the ordinance was that utility workers, attempting to shimmy up poster-infested poles couldn't get a good foothold and were hurting themselves in crisis proportions. That and the fact that the posters just didn't "look good."

The glaring holes in the pro-ban arguments--that Seattle City Light's own records showed zero accidents attributed to posters and that utility poles and wires aren't all that attractive to begin with--didn't stop the easy passage of the ordinance.

Concerned citizens who called the council to question the plausibility of the pro-ban arguments could expect to be excoriated as being for danger and vandalism and against civic neatness. At least the harried staff members had the decency not to insist that the ban was "for the children."

A few years ago, a group of perpetual malcontents challenged the ban in court. The ordinance was upheld because public postering was banned for Republicans, Democrats and Anarchists equally. That means, billboard king Barry Ackerly has no more right to staple, tape or paste a poster on a pole than anyone else. Thus, the public interest is preserved. Free speech flourishes, as long as you can pay for it.

And so, the utility poles were made safe from vandalism--well, not entirely safe. Another group of free speech advocates has been blatantly breaking a similar ordinance for decades, with the full knowledge and complicity of the City of Seattle.

The Seattle Municipal code states (SMC 15.14.030) "No newsstand shall ... be fastened to any Metro facility or any utility pole or tree[.]" Yet, walk all over town and there they are, newsstands, chained, in violation of the law to these self-same utility poles.

Many of these utility poles are of the fancy decorative sort, the "Chief Sealth" model. The congregating newspaper boxes, chained as they are with big heavy chains to the bases of these antique poles, can be seen by anyone to be scratching and in some cases "gouging the hell" out of the poles. I'm pretty sure these particular public utility pole facades aren't cheap.

That's not to suggest that the Times, P-I, Tribune, etc. are vandals engaged in willful property destruction. They are simply trying to keep their news boxes from walking away, and the poles are handy. If there is a problem it's that the city government has stigmatized and criminalized one group of free speech artists, (the posterers), while another group, engaged in a similar exuberant use of utility poles (newspapers), is publicly and blatantly allowed to continue. That just ain't right.

They are "public utility" poles, for goodness' sake. They're not props in a movie. The public might as well get some utility out of them. After all, they just sort of rise out of the ground and sit there completely useless for most of their height ... about the only thing in view that isn't carrying some sort of advertising. How is it that the major advertising medium of the non-corporate sector is the only one that's subject to a clean streets campaign?

Some people have suggested a solution--to use kiosks ... or kiosks and a public/private partnership (so popular at City Hall!). Here's the idea:

The Seattle Times and P-I will take the lead in the private sector, whipping up both financial and political support for the program. They would do this because either: 1) they are free speech supporters who believe in community improvement through public/private partnerships, or 2) as restitution for the valuable cultural utility poles they have damaged over the years. Of course, they would have a stake in the program because the kiosks would also function as "newsstand securement facilities." The kiosks would be maintained by hiring disadvantaged youth through a special city program.

Funding is, of course, a problem. While that's not my job, I will throw out some ideas for starters. We could sell corporate sponsorships of each kiosk, perhaps with naming rights: "Safeco Kiosk," "Key-osk" ... or perhaps Microsoft could start a "StreetWeb" photocopy version of "Slate." Maybe Amazon.com and TCI could collaborate on designing "interactive kiosks" blaring out advertisements for Pacific Place, surrounded by posters put up by ordinary, non-corporate citizens.

Or maybe we as a city might opt for a simple, reasonable solution for a change. Repeal the poster ban, because it's really a pointless ordinance. The poles are public property. A few staples or some glue (or heavy chains) are hardly damaging utility poles in any structural way.

Support Free Speech Seattle's campaign; sign the petition if you see one. Or call them at (206-78-7371) to get one. Bug the city council about the issue. Call the Seattle Times and ask politely for their support.

Return the Public Utility Poles to the People!

Free Speech Seattle has announced a public meeting on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1:00 PM at the Arcade (612 Pine Street) on Capitol Hill.