Digital Billboard News
Texas News
What Others Are Saying
Houston
Former Council Member Eleanor Tinsley speaks out about new billboards:
"Since serving on the Houston City Council for 16 years, I have generally shied away from urging advice on the leaders of today. However, I am compelled to step forward to oppose the threatened weakening of the core principle of the billboard laws which we worked so hard to achieve."
Controller Parker Opposes Billboard Relocations:
"As a former Council Member, I appreciate and respect the hard work that the Mayor and Council Member Holm have put into the negotiations with Clear Channel on the issue of taking down billboards."
Houston Chronicle reports on the 'deal'
"They'd be ugly, steel-poled problems, and down lots of roads. But most of those problems wouldn't fall to the watch of the current batch of term-limited councilmembers."
Houston Chronicle Editorial plea to pick a good plan
"The city should pursue the strategy that will reduce the most billboards in the next few years without presenting hundreds of billboards a new lease on life and their owners' permission to blight locations now billboard-free."
Richard Erickson, outdoor advertising specialist, in a letter to Scenic Houston
"This gets a little complicated, but it should be easy to understand why Clear Channel wants to exchange its obsolete signs for new ones. I suspect that they would eventually sell or remove all all of its 8-sheers and 30-sheets voluntarily and without compensation simply as a matter of business economics. However, if they believe they can get the City to allow them to swap these relics for brand new signs, then it would be an unprecedented victory that would seem just too-good-to-be-true for the billboard interests."
West Houston Association
"The West Houston Association is opposed to the proposed agreement with Clear Channel and the related ordinance and calls upon Houston City Councilmembers to vote against the against proposals."
The Quality of Life Coalition
"We do not believe it is in the best interest of the City of Houston to allow 466 billboards to be relocated to new sites yet to be decided and at Clear Channel’s discretion."
Jim Greenwood, Member, Houston City Council 1982-1993
"I believe the Billboard bailout, as originally proposed by Mayor White and Councilmember Holm, is bad for Houston"
Scenic Houston Letter Regarding Delay by City Council
"Yesterday City Council voted to refer the Clear Channel deal back to the Mayor. That means he will continue to study the issue and determine whether there should be a moderated agreement or no agreement. The Houston Chronicle reported that the Mayor wanted the delay 'in order to work out a consensus with beautification groups.'"
Texas
Scenic Texas Responds to TxDOT digital rules Nov 2007
"On behalf of the Board of Directors of Scenic Texas, Inc., we write to express our strong opposition to your published rules that will allow changeable-message, digital, light emitting diodes (LED) on outdoor off-premise advertising billboards along the public roads in Texas."
Supplemental Letter to TxDOT from Scenic Texas regarding digital rules Dec 2007
"Although the safety of LED technology has not been finally determined by an independent, government-funded, scientific study, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found that taking our eyes off the road for more than 2 seconds significantly increases near-crash/crash risk. "
Karen Huber Speaks Out Against LED Billboards in Texas
"Picture this: You're going 65 mph in traffic when suddenly, ahead on the right, there's a huge billboard lighting up the night sky. What's this? The image is changing ... It's a new message ... for a different product ... What's it saying now ...?"