A year ago I was so fed up with the mess of the hundreds of big advertisements stuck up by Tres Bones, Club Venue, Club Kaiku and Tavastiaklubi, etc, that I called them and asked them to stop sticking them to our trees and walls. Every shop and housing company on Iso Roba I spoke with agreed with me.

I sent six emails over the next year to the city. The first replies urged me to apprehend “without force” the young people sticking up the posters and call the police! A joke…

A few emails and several months later the city lawyers told me that this is probably a criminal activity if it creates damage. Just look at our walls and painted surfaces which have been scratched and made messy. Just look at the cost of removal – in the tens of thousands of euros just for one small area for taxpayers.

The people at the venues claim that it was not them that posted the advertisements on Mannerheim Street, Kamppi or around the railway station. They say that they are not responsible for covering every lamppost and electricity box with ever thicker of untidy papers. No, they are not responsible for making this an ugly city for residents and tourists. Don’t young people use Facebook?

In Stockholm and Munich you pay the city for advertising space and, I thought, here the same rule applies…

And now I am pleased to see that the city is at last taking their responsibility seriously and sending the cleaning bill to Tavastia Club. They make enough profit to pay for advertising and their lawyers who will try to get them off the hook.