Few genteel teachers of piano and the Bible go on to win political battles for school desegregation, smoking bans, billboard regulation, bicycle helmet requirements, gay rights and park space. In fact, Eleanor Whilden Tinsley may have been the only one.

On Dec. 12, the Chronicle reported that Harris County settled a lawsuit brought by Clear Channel Outdoor over the visibility of one of their billboards. The 25-foot tall billboard had a value for tax purposes of about $21,800, yet the county paid Clear Channel $525,000 for a billboard visibility easement and permitted Clear Channel to keep the billboard and raise it 10 feet higher. (Please see "County must pay $525,000 for sign / I-10 bridge built too high for billboard," City and State cover.)

The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a settlement agreement with one of Houston's largest billboard companies that is expected to lead to the removal of 831 signs.

The city has struck a deal with one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in Houston that calls for it to dismantle 831 billboards before the end of this year.

If safety concerns, legal issues, public outcry, visual blight and Lady Bird's legacy haven't swayed them, here's one more reason for the Texas Transportation Commission to scrap a proposal allowing digital billboards along highways — the cost to taxpayers.

Members of two local chambers and the Renaissance 1960 revitalization coalition are poised to spring into action if Houston beautification groups need help lobbying the city of Houston to make changes to a legal settlement that could move some city-based billboards into Harris County's unincorporated neighborhoods.

Groups such as Scenic Houston argue that the mayor's proposal gives billboard companies too much in exchange for too little.

Mayor Bill White said Thursday he would delay a council vote on a controversial billboard plan, in order to work out a consensus with beautification groups.
The decision followed intense lobbying by billboard opponents.

The battle of the billboards, slated to erupt Wednesday at City Council, probably will be pushed off until early next year.

Where billboards are involved, messages tend to be simple: The city's proposed contract with Clear Channel is great! Hundreds of billboards to disappear soon! "A monumental step" in fighting blight!

But in reality, the deal is as ugly as the vasectomy-reversal billboards that dot Intestate 45. And unlike a vasectomy, once it's done, it can't be reversed.