KEY POINTS:
Seven years ago, during the battle to rid Queen St of the ubiquitous sandwich boards, the city's traders noisily predicted the death of commerce if the city council had its way.
But when the footpaths of the golden mile were finally liberated from more than 600 of these tatty obstacles, the sky didn't fall in. Just the opposite. The footpaths of the central city were freed up for their true purpose in life, as walkways for you and me.
Only the most contrary of persons would now want to turn the clock back.
Now, in a belated move to finish the job, the city council plans to control billboards and shopfront signage as well. And surprise, surprise, shopkeepers citywide are running about predicting the end of civilisation is again, nigh.
But in truth, far from ruining commerce, regulating the signage free-for-all that blights the cityscape will be the easiest and most effective way of instantly civilising the shopping streets of the city.
We need regulation and enforcement because, as with sandwich boards, when it comes to touting for business, Auckland's shopkeepers - both big and small - have shown themselves remarkably lacking in self-control.
You only have to catch sight of the huge billboard wrapped around the above-verandah facade of Westfield's downtown shopping centre to appreciate how little consideration this conglomerate has for the aesthetic well-being of inner Auckland. Similarly, a quick trip along any of the roads radiating out of town into suburbia - Dominion Rd, Sandringham Rd and Manukau Rd are all good examples - will show that the small players are every bit as unconcerned about the greater good.
As far as the suburban-strip shopping roads are concerned, historic rows of shops dating back to Edwardian times and before are so decked with signage that the heritage landscape to which the signs are attached is all but obscured by invitations to eat chop suey, drink spiritous beverages, undergo oriental manipulations or buy bric-a-brac.
Possibly if this multilingual cacophony was restricted to the odd quaint corner, it could be forgiven as local colour. But in Auckland, it's fast becoming the norm, and far from colourful it just looks slummy and uninviting.
It's encouraging to see deputy mayor and City Vision leader Dr Bruce Hucker taking a leadership role. In Auckland City, our senior politicians are big on the vision statements, but too often absent when it comes to ushering through potentially unpopular, but city improving, reforms. It's good to see one sticking his neck above the parapet.
More confusing is the role of councillor Glenda Fryer who, more than any other councillor, has led the campaign for new signage bylaws. Now that the public consultation process has begun and the politicians should be out there putting their case and countering the alarmism of the shopkeepers, Ms Fryer and several of her pro-law-change councillor colleagues have suddenly clammed up.
Ms Fryer plans to chair the hearings panel with her pro-change colleagues alongside her. She says she cannot make a comment during the public consultation process because, by law, she has to appear impartial.
I'm not picking on Ms Fryer when I say this is "make believe" time.
Local body politicians do it all the time, on all sorts of things. They do it for some extra pocket money, and because it's the way things are done. But it is a nonsense.
The politicians pushing this reform should be out there advocating as hard as they can. Of course they should listen and consult broadly, but in the end, they're politicians, and the day of judgment is at the ballot box in a few months.
The pretence that mid-campaign they can suddenly don judicial garb and play the impartial Solomon fools no one and sours not just those in the gun, but those of us who want our representatives fighting for the cause right to the end.
What the proposed bylaw offers is to return the look of the urban environment to the community. As Dr Hucker argues, cities that we aspire to emulate (like Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne - to say nothing of London and Paris) control the amount of signage a place of business can display. Why shouldn't we? It ensures sign competition cannot escalate out of control.
You have a month left to make submissions. If you support a cleaned-up cityscape, let the politicians know.
