11:30 p.m. Scrub-a-Home truck with on-board power washer being used to remove obnoxious AnnArbor.com advertising painted on downtown sidewalks. Operator said city is having him remove the ads due to numerous complaints. Also said the ads were more than just chalk and would not have come off in the next rainstorm.
Main & Huron
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I am happy to see that the City has required them to do this. The ads were truly ugly, and I was at a meeting with Council Member Briere on Saturday morning and remarked on them. We were both of the impression that they were, indeed, chalk, and would wash off. AnnArbor.com is bad enough without desecrating our downtown!
AnnArbor.com is experiencing technical difficulties.
Followed a link from the Chronicle to AnnArbor.com about the legality of sidewalk chalk…..and this is what I found.
Quite the understatement.
Good. As far as I’m concerned it’s vandalism.
They ought to be forced to reimburse the city for the cleaning. they seem so in favor of the income tax since the city supposedly can’t meet all it’s obligations. Well, they just cost the city more money and ought to be fined for it.
During a recent stroll, I found it ironic that every time my eye caught one of those sidewalk ads stating that “AnnArbor.com was here” there was nothing there.
Interesting article online in Editor and Publisher today about the vandalism: Link
Local ad agency re:group claims credit for spraypainting chalk-based paint on our sidewalks. Their blog states:
“As the media agent for the new local on-line news media, annarbor.com, re:group reached out to the local audience where they work and play. We wrapped buses, spread the news on the sidewalk with chalk messages, took over the local mall, hired a plane to fly a banner over the largest U.S. art fair and engaged pedestrians as our bike ads were cycled through Ann Arbor. For annarbor.com, we’re takin’ it to the streets!
Link to re:group