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.

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.

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.