The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
The fight over digital billboards is on hold.
The advertising company that wants to erect them pulled its request Monday, the day before the City Council was scheduled to vote.
Adams Outdoor Advertising is pushing for a change to city law that would allow the company to replace some of its existing billboards with digital ones. New billboards and improvements to existing ones have been prohibited in the Beach since 1987.
Adams' effort, sponsored by an ordinance from Councilman Harry Diezel, has drawn the opposition of garden clubs, the city's planning department and some members of the City Council.
Opponents say the signs are ugly and will distract drivers. Supporters say they look better than existing billboards and would be useful to get out
information during public safety emergencies, such as hurricanes or Amber alerts.
The company postponed its Tuesday hearing because some supporters couldn't make it to the meeting, said Doug Lister, Adams director of community relations.
"What we're looking for is a short deferral," he said. "Some of our supporters couldn't make the date."
Opponents of digital billboards said Adams canceled because the company doesn't have the political support it needs.
"I'm sure the reason they withdrew is because they don't have the votes," said Cheryll Klobuchar, member of the Council of Garden Clubs of Virginia Beach and the city's beautification commission.
"That's a logical assumption," Diezel said.
Lister said that wasn't the case.
"To be honest with you, I think our opponents would say anything to see us fall by the wayside," he said. "We wouldn't have brought it through if we didn't think we had the support of the community and the politicians."
The company technically requested an "indefinite deferral," which means the issue will likely return. Diezel said he would support the request to delay.
The City Council is divided over digital billboards and the similar but separate issue of electronic signs, known as LED s. After months of revision and committees, another LED ordinance will come before the planning commission and the City Council in June.
Opponents of digital billboards suggested that Adams won't come back until after the City Council elections in November.
"When you defer something indefinitely, that means it can be brought back anytime - beyond the November elections," said Reba McClanan, a former city councilwoman fighting against digital billboards.
Lister said he hopes the council will take up the issue in the near future and before the November elections.
He said he doesn't understand why digital billboards are such a big issue compared with other pressing concerns in the city.
"There are a lot of other things going on compared to signage," he said, citing light rail and the budget. The City Council passed it s $1.9 billion budget earlier this month.
Opponents of d igital billboard s said they're steeling themselves for another round of battle.
"This is just a ploy," Klobuchar said. "They're hoping we're going to go away, but we're not."
Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com
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How many council members does it take?
How many members of Virginia Beach City Council does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: All of them. One to screw in the new bulb and all of the rest to pass a motion proclaiming how much better the old one was. Let's take them all out for a night of dancing at the Peppermint and get them home to DeWitt Cottage early so they can get enough sleep! Wake up ladies and gents! It's 2010 and the world is passing the World's Largest Resort City by in a big hurry!
Isn't that great!
VB is 23 year behind in technology or rather is hindering it. The new ones would not take up any more space than that are already there. The old ones have not been allowed to be improved upon since 1987. What a great way to make the city look good. You've got run down section 8 housing and derelict homeowners who neglect their homes and they want to keep the old signs the way they are. At least they haven't wasted your tax dollars (yet) on an unnecessary light rail system!
IF the old sign falls over,
IF the old sign falls over, then they can't put a new one up. That's what the city is hoping.
On one side, billboards are pretty ugly. But if you're going to have them, you might as well have nice digital ones (with a good dot pitch and color rendering ability.)
When I rode cross country with a friend I noticed that in West Virginia there were several of the large billboards in a small city or town that were fully digital. At that time I think we had 5 of them in Hampton Roads and they were brand new (our first was up near Jefferson in Newport News IIRC.)
You could tell the West Virginia ones were older, and had been there a while. I thought it was funny that this small town in West Virginia beat this region.
ANTIQUES
Billboards have ZERO business influence in today's digital age. Really folks, when is the last time a billboard advertisement led you to the front door of a business ready to buy something?
They worked great in 1950 but are nothing but dinosaur-size eyesores today.
Tear em' all down I say.
Whatever you say buddy
I guess that's the reason they cost so much and they practically have a waiting list to get your ad on one.
The numbers don't agree
The marketing numbers do not agree. If you buy space on a billboard, you will see an increase in sales. If they didn't, no one would be spending money on them. The ones really hurting in the digital age are newspapers.
Actually, given that Hampton
Actually, given that Hampton Roads is made up of primarily "old and slow" people, there is a good chance that print advertising has an effect. Many people still read the paper.
I'd imagine the problem is lack of the shady businesses that were flush with cash in times past (Realtors and Car Dealers.) Also in times past the newspapers could name their price with regards to advertising rates and get it. Just a different world, and at least the local newspaper was slow to adopt. They should have beat Craigslist. When they launched their own competitor, it was done poorly. I mean, for a while, there wasn't any way to actually see listings from commercial rental real estate on here. Seriously. One had was a wrapper for the REIN residential junk and the other was the classifieds minus all the real estate listings.
Old
It is about time the beach people elect younger and out the old. GOod grief grow up times a changing and you arent.
VA Beach still trying to stop progress
People forget the good that these things can do. How long do you think it would take to post a 100 foot X 40 foot Amber alert in several different places at once? Just a few minutes with those new hi tech billboards.
Using almost any other means could result in a delay causing an unspeakable tragedy.
Wrong
The VDOT overhead signs do a much better job, are already set up for Amber Alerts. The billboards in Virginia Beach are limited in number and areas. The billboard company is just using the Amber alert ruse to get his around the billboard ban.