A Comment on Tacoma's Billboard Problem
Image courtsey of R.R. Anderson
Tacoma’s agreement with Clear Channel (and subsequent proposed billboard sign code changes) has inspired popular consternation; In fact, few issues have elicited as much public commentary recently.
It’s difficult to imagine a civic conflict with less subtlety, so whenever we hear an interesting perspective, we try to take notice. This comment came to us from Traci Kelly (Museum of Glass, Arts Leadership Lab Tacoma). We are posting it here for your consideration and comment.
An Artist’s Response to the Tacoma’s Billboard Controversy
Yes, billboards are bad. Yes, digital billboards are worse.
Could we please start thinking about opportunities for artists in this mess? What if, instead of tearing down the old billboards, they were turned into an application artist opportunity, or we rolled it into the mural training project? What if they did digital billboards and we demanded that 10% (1% doesn’t seem demanding….) be local artist generated or designed?
My point is that while the community obviously doesn’t like the idea of more billboards I haven’t seen anyone offering an artistic alternative.
Filed under: Billboards
72 comments
R RR Anderson March 28, 2011
tear down the billboards and use the scrap metal to rebuild the Kalakala.
K Kevin March 28, 2011
From my comment on Facebook:
Actually … I don’t like this idea either. I am sick of these monstrosities in my country, my state, my county, my city and my neighborhood. There is nothing good that comes from these things.
Art is a good thing, but shouldn’t the neighborhood/community agree and accept it? Just turning over these things to artist sounds good, but reality is that they will still piss off many if not most of us.
Traci Kelly (art Traci) has many great ideas and has shared much with the community, but I can not agree with this idea, especially anything that agrees to accept digital billboards.
I say we Demand that all billboards need to go!
K Kevin March 28, 2011
Comment #1 … RR .. perfectly said!
C CindyBrady March 28, 2011
The house in the top photo isn’t going to be any less “cramped” by the billboard if it has art on it. I think art may be a nice way to go for a couple of them if the setting is just right (56th & Washington-ish?), but NO, not with any electronic billboards! There should not be, and I will not support, any compromise on electronic billboards!
K Kevin March 28, 2011
Cindy, that house above would be much less cramped if the billboards were removed… as they all were supposed to have been a long time ago.
R RR Anderson March 28, 2011
The only way I’d hate these billboards even more is if they started running the True Grit City Arts cartoons on them or Robbi Firestone “spirit captures”
I think I’d start placing ads on craigslist for kamikaze pilots under ‘gigs’
A artifacts1 March 28, 2011
If you focus on your phone conversation or texting while you drive by they don’t seem quite so bad. I’m sorta surprised Verison and AT&T didn’t negotiate a new batch of cell towers in Tacoma in exchange for outlawing cell phone usage while driving.
M Moochach March 28, 2011
Percentage of billboard revenue local artists demand = 10%
Percentage of this idea generated from self serving interests = 100%
If 100% of the billboard content and revenue went to local artists, I will still prefer no billboards at all.
A ALP March 28, 2011
Actually, we get quite a bit of local art, i.e. graffiti on 6th Ave – and I wonder if the digital ones wouldn’t be vandalized, wouldn’t we have bigger fines, enforcement etc.? Can you make a community support them?
J Jesse March 28, 2011
“It is not a content problem, it is a delivery problem.” — RR
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I wish people would quit suggesting alternative agreements for the billboard mess. It implies that a “win” in this case could be something short of upholding the original billboard law — that being total elimination. Anything, and I mean ANYTHING short of that is a huge failure.
Raise the bar people!
B Britton March 28, 2011
Actually, I had proposed a similar idea (using the old empty Billboards as art spaces) on our “turn out that light Tacoma” facebook page. I thought that if the council were to extend the amoritazation period, that could be a temporary solution/stop-gap until they were all removed. Heck, when they were finished you could even hang the vinyl wraps in empty store fronts as a show. I think that would at least make them less of an eyesore.
But under no circumstances should we allow Digital Billboards in Tacoma, no amount of exposure for young artists would counter the damage from one of the Digital monsters.
There is an art component to this, and I am working on one such idea. Let’s really observe these billboards. Draw them, paint them, imagine new things on them, whatever. I think the issue with city beautification begins with truly observing. For example, in the photo shown of a Billboard on a house at 6th and Alder – one slated for removal- there is the most interesting salmon painted on it’s base. Not graffitti, just like a haida salmon…Interesting, a part of Tacoma both ugly and beautiful at the same time. (I took the above photo BTW, not that I care about credit, I don’t)…
Anyway, if we see the inherant beaty in the grit, we will see the “blight” where it really is. In the indifference.
B Britton March 28, 2011
I’m not going to lie, if Clear Channel let me put my artwork on the B-side of the Billboard outside my window (you know, that huge one on top of “It’s Greek to Me”), I wouldn’t care if it came down anytime soon. I’d probably enjoy the board then…
But that’s not going to happen, and even if it ran the “Empire Strikes Back” and “The Big Lebowski” all day and night instead of ads, I still wouldn’t go for the Digital ones, ever.
R RR Anderson March 29, 2011
you’d be Steve Martin from LA Story
L low bar March 29, 2011
hahaaha @9
V Vince March 29, 2011
The people who create those billboards ARE artists. Just because they get paid for their work does not mean they are not. You have photographers, painters, makeup artists, creative directors and many others involved in the creation of those billboards.
To somehow think that those who are unable to profit from their art are somehow entitled to that billboard space is just asinine. Either ban them or leave them alone.
L low bar March 29, 2011
yeah they’re artists. shitty artists. just like you have good cops and bad cops. see how that works? thanks!
B Britton March 29, 2011
Vince is right, Ha! love it! I guess we got to ban them!
T Thorax O'Tool March 29, 2011
Esteemed Council Members, Mayor Strickland and Mr Anderson:
As we have all heard in the news recently, the City of Tacoma plans to go ahead with the electronic billboards agreement with Clear Channel, Inc.
It is worth reminding the City that the original 1997 ordinance not only will quite like stand up in court, but is also highly popular among the city’s 200,000 residents. This was demonstrated in the recent council meeting where the vast majority of those present did not support the electronic billboards.
It would be redundant to tell you just how ugly these electronic eyesores will make Tacoma. It would be a waste of your time to repeat over and over how visual blight like these billboards not only decreases overall happiness for those who are forced to see them but also further harm Tacoma’s already not very decent reputation in this region.
A great economist once said “vote with your wallet”. That is an excellent idea and is firmly ingrained in our system of government. With that being said, I, the undersigned pledge to do just that. I hereby pledge that I WILL NOT VOTE for any city council member who approves these visual atrocities. Furthermore, I pledge that I WILL BOYCOTT all businesses (local or not) who will advertise on these digital billboards. Furthermore, I WILL encourage everyone I know to do the same.
Tacoma is more than just an advertising corridor on I-5. The citizens of this city deserve a place to be proud of and We also deserve a city council and mayor who actually listen to what their electorate has to say. I honestly hope that the elected officials of this city listen to the People and have enough of a spine to just say no to Clear Channel.
Respectfully yours,
X________________________________________________________________
a proud citizen of Tacoma
N NSHDscott March 29, 2011
I know that I for one would hate these billboards less if Clear Channel kept their support posts in decent condition. They are brutally designed, and then left to rust. If we were to have digital billboards, I’d hope we could at least insist on a frequent maintenance schedule. It may be lipstick on a pig, but I’ll take it. Hopefully my point here will be totally moot anyway, when the City Council finds the cajones to stand up to big business and fight for the 1997 law.
P Praetorian March 29, 2011
I’d be interested to hear what readers of exit133 think of smaller on-site digital signage given the outcry against billboards utilizing the same technology. Currently, the on-site signage is unregualted by the city of Tacoma in terms of brightness limits, buffering from sensitive uses, static display time limit of a single message, etc. These things could easily pop up on every commercial development complex in the next 5 years, blaring changing messages every 2 seconds without light restrictions or any other regulations to mitigate there use… should the city use this message on digital billboards from the public and extend it to all digital signage in the city???
K Katy March 29, 2011
A little origin story, please. I understand the gripe toward digital billboards but is the additional issue with Clear Channel and their misuse/lack of upkeep of current billboards? I am generally ambivalent/bemused by billboards but occasionally they point me in the direction of an event or a local business/org I would like to support. If we had NO billboards, that’s a massive loss of city revenue as well as loss of revenue to local businesses/orgs.
S Sunflower Universal Collective founder, RR Anderso March 29, 2011
yes, and once the billboards are gone how am I going to justify making fun of the volcano for supporting an evil corporate billboard monopoly?
N Nick March 29, 2011
“My point is that while the community obviously doesn’t like the idea of more billboards I haven’t seen anyone offering an artistic alternative.”
So what? Why does there need to be an artistic alternative? Why cant the alternative be to not have billboards?
This isn’t a case of everyone complaining but not having a better idea. There doesn’t need to be a better idea. For the most part, I think we all just want them gone.
T Trashtown March 29, 2011
If we don’t want the billboards, all we have to do is destroy them, Or just paint or wheat-paste beauty over them. Don’t waste your time trying to get any city officials or corporate slime involved, they will never listen. Vote with your fist!
N Nick March 30, 2011
Thanks Thorax, I’m pasting that into my email as we speak. Very well articulated!
N Nick March 30, 2011
Just thought I’d share my version of the email sent to the council/mayor/Anderson:
N Nick March 30, 2011
Esteemed Council Members, Mayor Strickland and Mr Anderson:
As I am sure you are aware, the City of Tacoma plans to move forward with the electronic billboard agreement with Clear Channel. Inc. I want to take a moment to voice my disapproval for this decision and to remind the council that it is never too late to act in the best interest of the city and its citizens.
Based on my understanding of the situation, it appears that the 1997 ordinance is all but guaranteed to withstand legal scrutiny. Pairing that with the opinions expressed at the planning commission’s hearing tells me that the city would have the legal and political high ground on this issue. Moving forward with this agreement simply does not make sense. It rewards an outside organization for willfully ignoring city code and regulations, increases the eyesore factor in a city that cannot afford it, and blatantly ignores the public outcry against it, made by the very citizens that positioned our leadership as leaders.
I realize that standing up for our beloved city isn’t easy and certainly not free, but surely it is worth the effort and money to do so in this case. Please don’t squander an opportunity to change our city in a meaningful way, earn some public goodwill, and demonstrate that our ordinances, laws, and regulations are worth more than the paper on which they are written.
I truly believe in the power of democracy and that our leadership is obligated to represent and support the interests of the citizens they represent. In that spirit, I hereby pledge that I WILL NOT VOTE for any city council member that approves or otherwise abstains from opposing this agreement. In addition I WILL BOYCOTT any business that advertises on ANY BILLBOARD within Tacoma city limits should this agreement be allowed to continue.
If you’ve made it this far into my letter, please accept my gratitude for listening. I hope you will consider my thoughts when it comes time to make a decision. Please show me and the other 200,000 citizens that elected you that you truly do represent the public will, that you have our best interests at heart, and that the voices of Tacoma citizens carry more weight than representatives from an organization based out of Phoenix, Arizona.
Respectfully yours,
Nick Williams
a proud citizen of Tacoma
—————————————-
Please feel free to plagiarize/modify as you see fit and send your own. Also, thanks to Thorax for the inspiration!
R RR Anderson March 30, 2011
Send this crap back to Seattle. And boycott the volcano!
C City Funded aPolitical Cartoonist, RR Anderson March 30, 2011
TACOMIC PREDICTS who votes in favor of clear channel BILLBOARD capitulation:
=====================
Strickland – yes
Walker – no
Manthou – yes
Campbell – no
Fey – no
Woodards – yes
Lonergan – yes
Mello – no
Boe – no
======================
T Tim Smith March 30, 2011
Mart E will vote yes me thinks.
C City Funded aPolitical Cartoonist, RR Anderson March 30, 2011
Fey and Marty could go either way… but i’m an optimist
C Catalyst March 30, 2011
So…..the city that didn’t have enough money to help out their own Library system….suddenly can afford digital billboards? Interesting priorities, Tacoma….Very interesting.
I’m all for the art idea, but against spending money on more advertising. People like Tacoma, it’s not like these billboards are going to make everyone enjoy it that much more…
K Kit-Kat March 31, 2011
I really like the idea of turning the billboards into giant art projects. Maybe we could split the billboards up? Keep half of them as a viable marketing tool and turn the rest over to artists.
R RR Anderson March 31, 2011
the moment we play that game, we lose.
There is already too much art in this town. The art chosen to go up on these things would be better kept to yourself.
T Thorax O'Tool March 31, 2011
The best billboard art is the kind that doesn’t ask for permission to be put there.
M Mofo from the Hood March 31, 2011
I guess some of you folks never had a toy train set when you were kids. After you set up the track for the train then you set up the landscape. One of the most fun and colorful pieces is the toy billboards. They are mini-artworks—-Really neat to look at.
Some of us kids grew up to work for real rail companies and laid down real train track. Some of us became commercial artists.
Then the following generations brought the proliferation of car travel and modern suburban communities. Then the advent of the television, millions of televisions, brought unforseen social upheavel to our once green and pleasant land.
And now electronic billboards…
R RR Anderson March 31, 2011
go back to sleep grandpa (eye roll)
M Mofo from the Hood March 31, 2011
Mr. Anderson, your comments personify the warnings of science fiction writers—-Ladies and gentleman, witness the rise of the atomic punk.
R RR Anderson March 31, 2011
Tacoma needs more milk bars
M Mofo from the Hood April 1, 2011
And now electronic billboards…
and citizen journalists with handheld telephones with built-in camera’s and wireless transmitters; and tattooed bicyclists in leotards and their very own striped lanes;and smokeless public parks with doubtful pride festivals; and electric cars with dim drivers.
Tacoma is progressive. Isn’t it?…
R RR Anderson April 1, 2011
spoken like a true lonely used car salesman. Mofo, you can’t buy a time machine on the internet… you can never go back to 1984
R RR Anderson April 1, 2011
Duty now for the future!
R rick April 1, 2011
How fun! I’m going to declare this first round goes to RR Anderson. The snarky grandpa comment with the parenthetical eye roll was great! Effective, witty, but not over the top… and the time machine/1984 follow up was also clever, amusing and effective. Mofo struggled in round one. He delivered inspired, eloquent, personal anecdotes and observations but fell just short of making any sense whatsoever… at least to me… but I went to public schools. However, I’m a big fan of Mofo as I’ve seen him deliver in the past, and am counting on him to tie it all together tomorrow so even my 97 IQ points can comprehend. Sharpen your pencil, RR…. you may need to retort via cartoon. I say the winner should receive one year of free billboard use. Would it be ok to use a billboard as a medium to express opposition to billboards?
R RR Anderson April 1, 2011
by all means, go meta rick… break down that fourth wall. whatever. I’m still trying to think of a train set with billboards?? I’ve had my fair share of trainsets and never once remember a billboard. I think mofo is remembering that twilight zone episode with the man who awoke in a empty town only to discover at the end he was a plaything inside a giant little girl’s train set. MOFO, are you at a library computer? Do you see a wall? Try feeling around for the invisible passage way back into our reality… I fear you may be unstuck…. in time
M Mofo from the Hood April 1, 2011
This discussion about billboards as I first encountered it on Tacoma blogs was based on defining the medium as blight.
I don’t interpret billboards as blight because my concept of the medium was formed on a different basis that predated the current discussion.
It is a fact that I have many years of real world experience in various sectors of society. So, unlike Mr. Anderson’s typical comments (see #54), I don’t struggle to make sense of reality by comparing experience to popular fiction.
Likewise I would never argue for acquiring knowledge for the basis of action by reading blog commentary.
Most of what I’ve read on blogs concerning this topic involves young minds crying out in fear for the future.
Well kiddies spoonfed on Darwin’s theory of evolution, it appears that you don’t believe his view that the fittest are those who have learned to adapt to change.
Experience counts.
R RR Anderson April 1, 2011
April fools!
R RR Anderson April 1, 2011
is the bible in the fiction or non-fiction? Is there a hidden homosexual agenda to obfuscate billboard freedomz of speech?
Mofo From the Hood has the answers!
L low bar April 1, 2011
volcano still sucks frighteningly bad. and note that this reflects on all. billboards or no billboards. they have like one maybe twi good writers, owen bates, and that one guy brett cihon, who wrote about feeling out of place surrounded by filthy hipsters in the new frontier (or lost among his own kind as he put it). like maybe the volcano billboard is not so far off…shudder
J Jesse April 1, 2011
“This discussion about billboards as I first encountered it on Tacoma blogs was based on defining the medium as blight.
I don’t interpret billboards as blight because my concept of the medium was formed on a different basis that predated the current discussion.
It is a fact that I have many years of real world experience in various sectors of society. So, unlike Mr. Anderson’s typical comments (see #54), I don’t struggle to make sense of reality by comparing experience to popular fiction.
Likewise I would never argue for acquiring knowledge for the basis of action by reading blog commentary.
Most of what I’ve read on blogs concerning this topic involves young minds crying out in fear for the future.
Well kiddies spoonfed on Darwin’s theory of evolution, it appears that you don’t believe his view that the fittest are those who have learned to adapt to change.
Experience counts.” — Mofo
Also… you forgot… “GET OFF MY LAWN!!!”
M Mofo from the Hood April 2, 2011
“GET OFF MY LAWN [CLEAR CHANNEL]!!!”
K Kevin April 2, 2011
Seems that Mofo thinks that we need to “adapt and change” to whatever corporate America pushes on us.
Seems Mofo also thinks that all of us who do not want the existing bill boards or any bill boards are “young minds crying out in fear for the future.”
Thank you for calling me young. But…. you are also wrong.
A Altered-Chords April 2, 2011
Kevin – Consumers buy the crap. Corporate america has been agressively trying to get me to drink budwieser and eat mcdonalds burgers for years. They pay athletes huge sums of money and write on these billboards and still I don’t consume their crap. I am ripping off the man because I watch NFL football and drink Pike Brewing’s Kilt Lifter scottish ale and make my own burgers! Join in my struggle to topple Anheiser busch and McDonalds!
By the way – Lowbar – try this beer. It has no discernable hop flavor or aroma and therefore, does not taste like grass or a chrismas tree. Or go to the Swiss and have a pint of Irish Death. (Altered Chords official rating: three thumbs up)
L low bar April 2, 2011
oh thanks for the tip. i don’t do that date-rapers bar the swiss. some one should toss a grenade in that place after hours.
A Altered-Chords April 3, 2011
Oh it’s fine. Just don’t set your beer down and your date won’t rape you.
L low bar April 3, 2011
awsome
B Back to the topic... April 3, 2011
Back on topic…
From the Tacoma weekly:
City of Tacoma officials consider adjustments to 1997 ordinance
Earlier this year Tacoma City Council agreed to a settlement with Clear Channel Outdoor that would allow the company to replace some current billboards with 10 digital billboards, which are capable of displaying multiple images.
Currently Clear Channel has 253 billboards, of which 193 are considered non-conforming to city code. It has another 169 relocation certificates, which is the right to relocate a billboard to another area where they are allowed.
In 1988 the city placed a cap on the number of billboards allowed. In 1997 an ordinance was passed that was meant to phase out billboards considered to be too big or disruptive. It allowed companies to bank one future billboard for each one removed.
The agreement reached this year effectively settled a lawsuit Clear Channel filed against the city in federal court in 2007. The company claimed the ordinance violated its free speech rights.
Most slated for relocation are in districts that do not allow billboards, are too close to schools and churches, or they do not meet dispersal requirements. Some do not meet development standards, meaning they are too tall or in dilapidated condition.
City regulations do not apply on the areas of Tacoma inside the Puyallup Indian Reservation. State agencies are responsible for issuing permits for billboards visible from highways.
The city’s rules allow billboards in four zoning designations, but the reality is there are few places within those zones where they could be sited due to other restrictions, such as dispersal requirements. Because of this, city staff and council members discussed potential changes to the rules during the council’s Economic Development Committee meeting on Dec. 14.
Some members pondered whether Clear Channel should be required to devote some time on them to public service announcements. Councilmember David Boe expressed the view that billboards are an “old-school” medium, even when using new technology.Much of the discussion was on digital signs and regulations on static image times, limits on flashing lights and animation, lighting levels and energy efficiency.
“I do not see much value in billboards,” Councilmember Lauren Walker remarked.
Councilmember Joe Lonergan said while they could be considered historic relics, they will always have a place in society and that new technology would lower their cost as an advertising choice.
“One of the most iconic places in America is Times Square, which is all advertising,” he observed.
“The non-profit community loves billboards because they can get their messages out inexpensively,” Boe remarked.
L low bar April 3, 2011
bla bla bla. real people know what to do with those f’n billboards
L low bar April 3, 2011
if all else fails…
M Mofo from the Hood April 3, 2011
The replacement of static billboards with electronic billboards should be no surprise to anyone. For years other forms of popular media have waged a relentless campaign against nearly every industry that uses the medium of paper for communication.
Millions of people lost their means of income because of other people who have promoted a “Paperless Society.” Major industries, based on renewable resources, such as Forestry, Paper Mills, Printing and Publishing, and Mailing Services have been nearly destroyed because of people who have promoted a self-interest counter-agenda under the banner “Green Revolution.”
Yes even the billboard industry has had to struggle to adapt. At one time billboards required Graphic Designers, Sign Makers, Paper and Paper Hangers, and Wood and Carpenters to shape the medium. All of these components are renewable resources. Yet, all of these components along with the industries noted above have been systematically redefined and categorized as blight.
In view of the havoc caused by false interpretations, the whole of chain of events that has led to the current billboard controversy was not an inevitable change.
Why the false outrage?
R RR Anderson April 3, 2011
as obama would say non-profit reliance on billboard table-scraps is a false choice.
DOWN WITH BILLBOARDS! BOYCOTT THE VOLCANO! DEATH TO CLEAR CHANNEL! LONG LIVE STARLIGHT.
A Altered-Chords April 3, 2011
Mofo – the loss of jobs due to going “paperless” is nothing when compared to the millions of stone knife maker jobs that were lost when charcoal was invented ushering in the “iron” age.
RR – starlight – Now that’s old school!
M Mofo from the Hood April 3, 2011
Insightful stuff A-C. Please return Mr. Anderson’s Kindle.
L low bar April 4, 2011
paperless? hell yeah get rid of that shitty mill. job loss? you probably hated your job at the mill anyways.the main grievance with all this is placement of these boards, like try to put one that close to a home i bought. i dare you. and two, if the content writers of these boards were to also write for all the comedy shows we like, and hbo series, there would be no likable shows because the content writers for billboard are complete IDIOTS who were idiots in highschool and further continued they’re waste of the planet’s oxygen through college and now at the tragically unedgy agencies they work at under bosses who followed the same paths of idiocracy a generation earlier.
M Mofo from the Hood April 4, 2011
Electronic billboards that change images every eight seconds or less is the type of medium best suited for the under 40 year-old Tacoman demographic. Test results confirm that the best communication method involves displaying pictures with no words which in effect engages the viewer to project his feelings.
Reaction rather than informed response is a predictable phenomenon because transmissions from electronic billboards bypass the inferred thinking part of pre-40 year-old brains.
Although the existence of the demographic’s thinking part of the brain has not been empirically proved or disproved, opposition to the E-boards typically involves confused discourse and unorganized mob revolt fantasying.
R RR Anderson April 4, 2011
digital screens are vulnerable to siege weapons which are popular again thanks to pumpkin chunkin’ hobbyists. Or maybe you’re to lazy to learn the fine art of pumpkin projectile technology… use bold cutters and flip the off switch.
M Mofo from the Hood April 4, 2011
Right. At this point it is necessary to make a distinction between a subject of experience and an object of experience.
I will allow room for the possibilty of electronic billboard installation in Tacoma, but so far this ideal world of reality is outside of space and time conditions of experience.
L low bar April 4, 2011
i think the only distinction is that the work that is displayed on a billboard, whether its glowing or pealing the fuck off, need not to be the work of fucking idiots. the only dull marketing design acceptable is that of the non-profits. every other industry needs to either step its game up and hire real talent to create their ads or forget it. capitalism is just a fucking phase and if you don’t have the wits to make a good ad in this age of information than do us all a favor and jump of a bridge. i mean, if RR’s work sucked ass would anyone be buying it? no. i don’t mind corporate america trying to fuck with my head as long as they do a gdamn good job of it.
R RR Anderson April 4, 2011
Trouble is, you make one of those ‘wow’ ads on a billboard and you’ll have ‘wow’ followed by a horrendous traffic accident. Fortunately if you are an organ donor, your organs can be harvested and one death, though tragic will mean that others may live… possibly many others.
And I do not know where anyone gets off saying my work does not suck a$$.
M Mofo from the Hood April 5, 2011
Commercial art and graphic design is a serious discipline. Why try to demean it by asking the public to imagine Mr. Anderson’s alternative artwork posted giant-size above rooftops?
Besides, Mr. Anderson openly shares councilman Walker’s view as noted at #66, “I do not see much value in billboards.”
There is plenty of information available regarding the value of billboards for those want to read it.
L low bar April 5, 2011
uh no one is asking to see a giant tacomic by the side of the road, just something less gag worthy than the volcano is able to muster. god that magazine is so garbage. their website makes me want to cry. they should just go ahead and rename itself “the fort lewis autotrader shitbird tavern mag”
M Mofo from the Hood April 5, 2011
Sure, maybe electronic billboards will distract drivers and increase accidents.
At one time the Tacoma area had giant motion picture screens at drive-in theatres. Remarkably, documented sources show that the vocal minority opposed to electronic billboards are the illegitimate accidents of women distracted by flickering images.
A AreteTacoma April 6, 2011
So…These billboards may actually contribute to our own rate of natural increase. That could save institutions that depend on high birthrate, like social security. Electronic billboards for all. So long as they discourage contraceptives. Ahh the good ol days.