Monday, March 28, 2011

Billboard bill not popular in sponsor's hometown

N.C. Sen. Harry Brown of Jacksonville is the main sponsor of a bill sought by the outdoor advertising industry that would ease restrictions on billboards and make state law trump any local ordinances that govern them. That's not a very popular idea with at least one official in his hometown. "I don't like any proposal that removes from local government the right to regulate land use standards within their jurisdiction," says Jacksonville City Manager Richard Woodruff. The N.C. League of Municipalities, Association of County Commissioners and many other local officials oppose Brown's bill, in large part because it would override local regulations such as Jacksonville's sign ordinance, Durham's billboard ban and Charlotte's tree ordinance.

Jacksonville's ordinance, for example, says "because of their sheer size, proximity to buildings and potential to storm damage, these signs can be aesthetically undesirable, create traffic hazards and present dangers to adjoining properties."

The bill, now in the Senate Transportation Committee, also would allow advertisers to replace existing signs with digital ones and increase the area from which trees and other shrubs could be cleared around the signs.

Woodruff, a former planner, says the measure also "would create a system of regulatory ripples that could substantially affect the look and feel of your community."

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is a great idea, if it means folks won't be buying advertising in your dead tree media, and instead buy ads on green and clean billboards.

No more Observers cloging our landfills, no more ink dumped into sugar creek like you guys did in the '90s, no more "white only" housing ads you used to run untill the government made you stop this discrimination.

Not that crazy about billboards but if it hastens the end of the observer- it is for the best

Freddy said...

Gads, what a jerk the very first anonymous commenter is. The day newspapers go away is the day our democracy dies. We've already seen the wholesale delivery of AM talk radio to the radical right-wing, and they have their very own television network too. They want to defund NPR and their most avid supporters - like this guy, no doubt - constantly call newspapers "liberal" as if to somehow equate them to the very real propaganda outlets that exist on the conservative side. It's scary how many of them are out there now. This idiot is a typical example, sadly.

Fact is, this new billboard ordinance is popular with NO ONE except the billboard operators - and Republican politicians' campaign managers who receive all the bribe money. It stinks to high heaven.

Anonymous said...

now now Freddy- President Obama has asked us not to name call, and I think calling someone a jerk or an idiot would viloate President OBama's request.

Why should we borrow more money from Red China to fund NPR? Elections mean things. The republicans won- If you have any evidence of republican campaign managers taking bribes, please report this to the proper authority.

Speaking of bribes- is Speaker Black, a convicted felon, out of prison yet? Has Governor Easley, a convicted felon, surrendered his law licence yet?

It is hard not to giggle when one reads of all of the layoffs and firings in the Observer newsroom.

Face billboard owners compete with the dead tree-poluting media for ad $. That is why the Observer hates billboards.

gg said...

If we lose the Observer where will the anonymous right wingers post their hate?

Bill of Matthews said...

This an a selfish, one-sided bill that is wrong on all counts. The outdoor advertisers have laid out bribes...oops, meant to say political contributions, to these schmucks.

Bob Rucho (R-Matthews), owes his constituents an apology for wasting our dollars on this bill. He also needs to explain why he is a co-sponsor and how it helps his district.

Anonymous said...

LOL@Freddy, "wholesale delivery of AM talk radio to the radical right-wing" That's a good one. You're comments show that you really know very little about the media and how many members slant steeply left vs how many slant steeply right. Stop repeating what you've heard and start actually looking for yourself. There are FAR more left leaning media outlets than right leaning.

Anonymous said...

Talk about left wing radicals where is all the left wing anger at the price of gasoline? Is this a collective cover-up to protect their beloved Obama because these same ones screamed blood murder at the Bush gas prices for years.

These 2 faced lefties would never say anything to hurt their messiah would they? Double standards, liars, idiots.
And on the subject what about some state sponsored racism?

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/04/14/a_state_sponsored_racist

Anonymous said...

Transgender beaten half to death in McDonalds in Baltimore.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379691/Transgender-girl-beaten-seizure-McDonalds-attack-victim-hate-crime.html

Anonymous said...

Nice idea and creative thoughts.


LED signs outdoor

media buy said...

MediaFiche is a free online media buying platform created to bring efficiency and ease to the media research, planning, and buying process for agencies, businesses and individual marketers.

camobel said...

Goodness, there is really much useful material here!