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July 28, 2010 · Derek

Tacoma City Council Meeting for July 27, 2010

The Tacoma City Council unanimously approved a settlement agreement tonight to end a three-year-old billboard squabble with Clear Channel.

The litigation will bring Clear Channel into compliance with an ordinance enacted in 1997 that severely limited the size and placement of billboards – essentially rendering 193 Clear Channel billboards out of compliance. (Read previous Exit133 coverage here.)

The settlement allows for the exchange of some of the non-conforming billboards with a type of digital billboard likened by Mayor Strickland to a desktop digital picture frame. The settlement will allow the city to regulate the billboards in a deliberate and meaningful way, Strickland said, and will result in the removal of a net 85 percent of the offending billboards.

PROCLAMATIONS, RECOGNITIONS, PRESENTATIONS, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mayor Marilyn Strickland read a proclamation recognizing the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and recommitting Tacoma to compliance efforts.

PUBLIC COMMENT

  • Three people came forward in support of the proclamation on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  • Robert Hill spoke out about the lack of sidewalk in certain locations on bus route 57, and against the Clear Channel settlement agreement.
  • R.R. Anderson came forward to express concern about the replacement of static billboards with digital ones.

REGULAR AGENDA

RESOLUTIONS
Resolution No. 38081 authorizing a Reconfiguration Agreement with Motorola, Inc., was continued to the August 24th meeting.

Purchase Resolution No. 38077 awards contracts to:

#Mayes Testing Engineers, Inc., in the amount of $248,682, sales tax not applicable, budgeted from the Solid Waste 2006 Bond Construction Fund, for on-call special inspection and testing services for the Solid Waste Recovery and Transfer Center, administration building, and shop remodel projects, for a period of three years with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods,

#Whitney Equipment Co., on its bid of $911,300, plus sales tax, budgeted from the Wastewater Fund, for 16 Unox Mixer Gear Reducers and associated training, and

#HDR Engineering, Inc., in the amount of $257,222, sales tax not applicable, for a cumulative total of $2,545,757, budgeted from the Solid Waste 2001 Bond Construction Fund, for additional architectural and engineering services associated with the Solid Waste Recovery and Transfer Center at the
Tacoma Landfill.

Resolution No. 38078 authorized the execution of an interagency agreement with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, in the amount of $10,000; accepting and depositing said sum into the Street Special Revenue Fund to assist with Municipal Code revisions related to urban forestry and open space.

Resolution No. 38079 authorized the execution of an interagency agreement with the Washington State Department of General Administration, for revenue in the amount of $50,000, for the routine maintenance and repair of vehicles on an as-needed basis.

Resolution No. 38080 authorized the execution of a boundary line adjustment, quitclaim deed, and purchase and sale agreement regarding surplus property owned by Tacoma Water, lying south of Southeast Green River Headworks Road in King County, in exchange for a portion of land owned by Fore, Inc., for additional buildable land for the Tacoma Water Treatment Facilities.

Resolution No. 38082 authorized the execution of Addendum No. 4 to the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 483, Water Unit, which consists of approximately 138 budgeted, full-time positions and provides in part for wage increases to reflect the 70th percentile of the market retroactive to January 1, 2010, deletes the classification of Assistant Water Transmission Supervisor, and changes applications of rate to certification premiums.

Resolution No. 38083 authorized the execution of an addendum to the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 483, Supervisors’ Unit, which consists of approximately 10 budgeted, full-time positions and provides for wage increases to reflect the 70th percentile of the market retroactive to January 1, 2010, and deletes the classifications of Service and Complaints Representative and Electrical Plans Examiner.

Resolution No. 38084 authorized the execution of an amendment to the agreement with the Hyas Group, Inc., in the amount of $60,000, for a cumulative total of $252,000, budgeted from the Deferred Compensation Fund, for additional deferred compensation investment advisory services.

FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES
Ordinance No. 27909 Amending Chapter 1.12 of the Municipal Code, relating to the Compensation Plan, to implement rates of pay and compensation for employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 483, Water Division Unit and Supervisors’ Unit.

Ordinance No. 27910 Amending Title 16 of the Municipal Code by repealing and reenacting Subtitle 16B, relating to telecommunications systems.

Ordinance No. 27911 Amending Chapter 1.23 of the Municipal Code, relating to the Hearing Examiner, to give the Hearing Examiner jurisdiction over telecommunications systems licenses, special street use permits, and telecommunication franchises.

PUBLIC HEARINGS AND APPEALS

  • This is the date set for a public hearing by the City Council to consider amendments to the Land Use Regulatory Code related to modifying enforcement, penalty provisions, and processes.

Robert Hill was the only person to sign up for comment during the public hearing.

Filed under: City Council, City Government, Billboards

20 comments

  • lostinlosangeles July 28, 2010

    Those things are all over the place in LA. Everywhere. Its like fking Minority Report. But here is the deal, what if Amber alerts, and missing people reports can be broadcast on that sht, instead of just stupid info for stupid people?

    So, next city council meeting say, argue your ass off that the thing at should be linked to the Amber alert system, if it is truly to be of benefit to a community. I think you can back those fkers in the council quite nicely into a corner with that one. Oh, no Amber alerts? Well, what the fk, are we people of the community only worth advertising to? Is our safety a non-issue? ARE YOU LAUGHING BEEOTCH HAHA

  • Florence July 28, 2010

    So in order to bring Clear Channel “into compliance”, we are changing their non-compliant eyesore billboards into something even more horrific?

    Isn’t that like the Bush administration making their illegal actions legal simply by changing the law to their liking?

    RR is right, we should fine Clear Channel for past violations and hold them to original standards. Digital billboards (like the ones on South I-5 entering Fife) are extreme safety hazards… especially when the screen changes every few seconds.

  • Altered Chords July 28, 2010

    @6 – why it’s like changing the status of illegal aliens just by changing immigration laws.

  • lostinlosangeles July 29, 2010

    I think those things should be everywhere on every block on every city and town, only shut off unless there is an Amber alert.

    Having those things is vital, but not to remind you to watch the 8 o’clock news or keep your gas off the pedal when you should be either going faster or getting the fk out of my way on 101 or I-5.

    I can see it now, quiet monoliths that stare down on all the baby snatching creeps who pass underneath them, ready to snap on in a moments notice and bring a flood of awesome judgement radiation upon them like a Nazi lifting the lid off the arch of the covenant in Raiders.

    Die you filthy baby snatchers.

  • Tim Smith July 29, 2010

    RR – good job. A few things are disconcerting about this agreement. One is a provision in Para 7 that allows Clear Channel to opt out of it!
    “Clear Channel’s option to execute this agreement, or to leave the Agreement unexecuted, shall be within Clear Channel’s sole discretion. Nothing herein shall be interpreted to require Chear Channel to execute this agreement.”

    Also, why is the City not putting a special fee on these new billboards? Profites for digital billboards are much higher than the regular ones so a revenue stream should apply and go directly to a fund for the neighborhoods impacted.

  • RR Anderson July 29, 2010

    CALL TO ACTION:

    here’s my idea. if you’re in charge of a company/event (looking at you weekly volcano, point defiance zoo, northwest trek, Marsha Moody!!) and you have a hankering for a billboard, DO NOT GO WITH CLEAR CHANNEL! instead opt for a Pierce Transit Bus Wrap or Sign… these help keep bus service going… put money back in the community (an investment really!) When you buy a CLEAR CHANNEL billboard your money gets ‘sucking sounded’ out of the state and helps the gangster corporation strong arm some other poor bastard city!

  • lostinlosangeles July 29, 2010

    It’s like I said, these gub’ment teet sucklers are mainly thinking about how to rearrange the junk in their garages and how to avoid their in laws on the weekends. These are not intellectual people capable of decision making based on ethics they gleamed from the occasional political science class they had to take, not wanted to take, to satisfy their degree requirements. And lets not forget that they were educated in the United States. So odds are they are bureaucrat idiots of the Parks and Rec class. You almost can’t hold them accountable for the lack of proper education from the very systems these dipsht admins are put in charge to manage in the first place! It is indeed a consistent cycle of sht for brains people in charge of delicate matters. But what are you going to do? They inherited a plan of colonization that was fked from the start, and is fked now because we are still trying to make something utterly inhumane pass as for a society. I mean, importing the feudal system and calling it freedom? WTF.

  • lostinlosangeles July 29, 2010

    @ RR

    These councils have been wrecking life for you and me for eons. You can see the evidence of their mismanagements in history by just looking at literature. Everything from An Outpost of Progress to Blake’s “..some are born to endless night.”

    I mean, what do you think made Jonathan Swift write what he did the way he did?

    RR, every word you write just gets added to the long litany of literature on these acts of incompetence streaming from the past into the future while the opportunistic high priest vultures peck at the dead body of God washed up on the shores of a cursed land.

    But perhaps today you will cause a shift, RR, I hope you do. But it takes more than one, or two to move a council or a company into compliance with the will of the people. And so far, as you can see, only 5 people had something to say in the area of public comment as can be seen in the above document. Personally, I wouldn’t take notice either if I were a council at such numbers. Tacoma, where were you when your city took a massive sht on itself? Out having a microbrew with your pathetic aging circle of friends?

  • J. Cote' July 30, 2010

    I’m all for getting rid of every billboard in town…NOT just 85% of them. I know that Mayor Strickland thinks that ANY deal is better than NO deal, but does she think that the people in this town are STUPID???
    I invite all of Tacoma’s gang members and all the other gun nuts in this town to start thinking of the fun target practice that they can have with a video billboard. I’m buying a slingshot just in case they put one here in the North End!
    BTW, Mr. Anderson: Do yourself a favor and stick to pictures as your form om expression. As a public speaker… you suck.

  • lostinlosangeles July 30, 2010

    Damn Cote’, why you trying to get RR to fall back into the pecking order like that?? Thats messed up.

    Hey RR, how much you wanna bet these nutless Tacomaphiles don’t have your back on here?

  • RR Anderson July 30, 2010

    I will gladly sit down when other more gifted speakers decide to stand up. Until that time sir, you can have sex with your hat.

  • RR Anderson July 30, 2010

    Keep in mind NOBODY knew this was coming. I was only alerted at the last minute by Marty Campbell on a fluke. I had maybe 10 minutes to come up with something to say. Where the hell were you?

  • lostinlosangeles July 30, 2010

    Probably having sex with a hat. Which is commendably oldschool and thrifty, kind of like using birdshot on a digital billboard. But fleshlights and freestyling at a city council is the way forward.

  • Altered Chords July 30, 2010

    RR – yeah, we were hoping for someone like Rodin that could make huge marble statues of nude people thinking. Why don’t you just give it a shot – maybe sculp something like the “Burghers of Tacoma” using the great city council members as your models.

  • Slim Jim July 31, 2010

    I thought RR’s city council comments were just fine. His message was simple, and his method was certainly memorable. That’s more effective than most.

    More importantly the topic is worthy. We should all get our butts to city hall next Tuesday.

  • TacomaJoe July 31, 2010

    Right on. Looking forward to the large public turn-out at Tuesday’s council meeting.

  • RR Anderson August 1, 2010

    Citizens Forum: You can talk about anything! Suggest city encourage local businesses to boycott Clear Channel opting for Bus supporting Transit ads instead. Can also boycott businesses making use of clear channel billboards!

    Death to Clear Channel! :)

  • Transit options August 1, 2010

    I know Clear Channel manages the booking for the light rail. I think they also have the contract with pierce transit.

    That leaves exit 133 as the only real place to advertise.

    I’ll be at city council on Tuesday.

  • Tim Smith August 1, 2010

    Due to National Night Out, Citizen Forum was moved to 10 August.

    “Deputy Mayor Fey moved to suspend the rules to move Citizens’ Forum from the meeting of August 3, 2010, to the meeting of August 10, 2010. Seconded by Council Member Lonergan. Voice vote was taken and carried. The motionwas declared adopted.”

  • Tacoma Joe August 2, 2010

    Alrighty, then… so although there will be no Citizen Forum this month, you can speak about Clear Channel via items on the current agenda, ie: Ordinance 27912… which will give you five minutes instead of three.