DIGITAL BILLBOARD WHITE PAPER

WHAT IS WRONG WITH DIGITAL BILLBOARDS? In addition to the obvious aesthetic concerns, they are potentially hazardous and environmentally and neighborhood unfriendly. They compromise the quality of life in San Antonio. A proposal is working its way through city hall to amend the city code to open the door wide to digital billboards. Why are the proposed rule changes a step in the wrong direction?

• TAKE DOWN PROVISIONS ARE MISLEADING: City Council members have been told that the number of billboards in the city will be reduced. Actually, because there is no provision to stop new billboard construction, new billboards can be constructed on new and existing highways. There are currently 1544 billboards in the city.
  
  Billboard Conversion Requirements
   
• SAFETY IS NOT A PRIORITY: There is no independently conducted study recognizing the safety of digital signs. The Federal Highway Administration has promised the results of such a study in 2009. Why should the city allow the sign industry to move forward with giant television screen-like images that change every 10 seconds when the obvious driver distraction could be dangerous? At a minimum, we should wait for results from the 2009 study.
  
  Billboard Safety Studies
  
  Billboards in the Digital Age: Unsafe (and Unsightly) at Any Speed
   
• DIGITAL BILLBOARDS ARE NEITHER NEIGHBORHOOD NOR ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY: The proposed signs consume 4,000 watts an hour and require large noisy fans to cool them. The LED (light-emitting diode) technology is far brighter than conventional signs and is designed to be seen at greater distances.
  
  Billboards in the Digital Age: Unsafe (and Unsightly) at Any Speed
   
• THE COSTS TO REMOVE THEM ARE EXHORBITANT: Once a digital billboard is up, estimates for removal range between $350,000 and $500,000. If a sign must come down in the future because of a road widening, the City would have to pay to have the sign removed (eminent domain), plus pay for the lost income (10-15 times more) and possibly have to compensate all tenants on a multiple tenant sign.
  
  Billboards in the Digital Age: Unsafe (and Unsightly) at Any Speed
   
• PROPOSED ORDINANCE DESTROYS SIGN CODE PROTECTIONS: The ordinance would negate the current freeze on new billboards on “Scenic and Urban Corridors.” The proposal allows the new technology to be added to existing non-conforming signs on such highways as 281 from the airport to downtown and the scenic corridor along I-10.
  
  Scenic and Urban Corridors
  
  IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS IGNORED: Two of the most important provisions recommended by the Electrical Supervisory Board were ignored. One created a phase-in provision starting with only 10 digital billboards in the first year and the second prohibited conversion of existing nonconforming signs to digital billboards in areas such as Scenic and Urban Corridors.

BACKGROUND: Clear Channel, the largest outdoor advertising firm in the world, is leading the industry’s push for cities, states and the federal government to bend their rules to embrace this new billboard technology. Over 310 communities in Texas do not allow new billboards, either conventional or digital, but proposals like this will even threaten those cities, since the new technology amounts to a conversion of conventional signs to digital signs. So far, only one digital billboard exists in Texas—in Corpus Christi.

Clear Channel has been very specific. They are asking to put up digital billboards in their corporate hometown of San Antonio. They are also pushing to have them allowed on federal highways and federally funded highways, where they are currently outlawed as a result of the Federal Highway Beautification Act. Digital billboards are now prohibited by TxDOT’s rules, but the sign industry wants Texas to reverse its position. New rules for TxDOT to allow digital billboards are currently pending.

See the Proposed Rules and Contact TxDOT

WHAT ARE THEY?

Billboards are off premise signs. That means they advertise goods and services not sold on the site where the signs are located. The difference between the billboards that we see every day and digital signs is that digital signs employ flashing, intermittent, or moving lights. Messages may change every 6 to 10 seconds. Wouldn’t that attract your attention? That’s the idea, of course.

Does San Antonio have any? Not yet, but they may be on the way. Clear Channel is going through the process of having digital billboards approved for San Antonio.

What are the arguments for digital signs?

• The signs allow economic opportunities for businesses and to deny them may incur economic hardship on the property owners who will not be able to lease their properties to sign companies. Not allowing digital billboards will hurt business.
   
• Digital signs capture current technology in a dramatic, progressive fashion. This is good for business. Right? Wrong! A 5-year study of 35 cities by the Mississippi Research and Development Center concluded, “The way a community looks affects how both residents and visitors feel about it. An attractive community has a better chance at industry, including tourism.” Houston has proven this to be true. Total retail sales grew over 100% in 1981, the year after the Houston City Council prohibited new billboard construction.

Do these arguments hold true in practice?

• Despite billboard industry claims to the contrary, communities and states that enact tough billboard controls enjoy strong economic growth.
  
  Billboard Control is Good for Business

WHAT CAN YOU DO? Speak up now!

1. The Digital Billboard Ordinance will be on the City Council Agenda for Thursday, December 6, 2007. Please attend this meeting to show your opposition. Sign up to speak, if you can.
   
   Also, check the web site of the San Antonio Conservation Society for its views. The Society is working with neighborhoods and others to defeat this ordinance.
   
   Another good site for in-depth information about billboards is Scenic America.
2. Send a copy of your remarks to your City Councilperson.
    
3. Send a copy of your remarks to all City Council members, including the Mayor. To date, all they have heard from has been the billboard industry.
    
4. Send or e-mail comments to the San Antonio Express-News at letters@express-news.net or Letters c/o Express-News, P.O. Box 2171, San Antonio, TX 78297-2171.
    
5. Send a copy of your remarks to the San Antonio Conservation Society at 107 King William Street, San Antonio, TX 78204 or email conserve@saconservation.org.
    
6. Get your neighborhood, business organization, or other group involved.
    
7. Spread the word.
    
8. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!