Graffiti, Posters and Billboards

Cities like Edmonton and Toronto want to have a clean sanitary city in order to attract business, investors, and tourists. They do not want to reflect the messy reality of their cities; they want a clean polished image. A city with graffiti and posters is a place that is lived in, interacted with, used, and painted on as opposed to a sterile clean city. Toronto wants to limit the use of public posters, but these can inform locals and tourists of what to do in the city. It is a battle between local knowledge and consumer culture. Graffiti and posters are being discouraged, yet Toronto allows companies to buy advertising in and even rename public spaces. Do we want public spaces to lost in a sea of advertising? I would rather look at the worst graffiti in a public space than to be bombarded by billboards...BUY BUY BUY! Posters and graffiti are useful in disseminating local knowledge, while a billboards only purpose is to inform people about their products. Billboards are visual pollution just as much or more than graffiti or posters! Who gets to mark public spaces? Should it be the public or corporations? I say save public spaces for the public!!!