[Durham INC] City Council votes unanimously against digital billboards (Herald-Sun, N&O, Indy, Bull City Rising)

[John Schelp]

Council: 'No' to digital billboards
By Ray Gronberg, Herald-Sun, 3 August 2010

City Council members on Monday voted down a Georgia company's request for an ordinance change that would allow it and similar firms to place digital billboards on Durham's major road corridors.

Fairway Outdoor Advertising floated the proposal in hopes of getting permission from city and county officials to move some existing billboards and replace up to 25 percent of its total display space with digital displays.

But council members said the company didn't make enough of a case to justify changing Durham's longtime ban on new billboard placements and digital displays.

"At this juncture, I can find no compelling reason -- no compelling reason -- to change the ordinance, so I will not be supporting" the company's request, Councilwoman Cora Cole-McFadden said.

She joined the council's other six members in voting down Fairway's proposal.

The company marshaled 24 people in support of its request Monday night, many tied to local nonprofits or in some way involved in the advertising trade.

Many argued, alongside the company, that billboards are in Durham to stay regardless of what city officials might have hoped in the mid-1980s when they voted to ban new billboards and render those in place "non-conforming" under the community's zoning.

Despite their intentions, 94 billboards remain on the city and county's major road corridors.

"An axiom of business is, if you're doing the same thing today you were 30 years ago, you're probably not doing it as well," local businessman Russell Barringer told council members, arguing that the failure to cut more deeply into the count shows that the city's been pursuing the wrong strategy,

"You can't expect new technology to be regulated by a 25-year-old rule," added Thelma White, a Durham political activist.

The message wasn't lost on council members.

"It was presented by some almost like Durham, we need to jump on the bandwagon because the train has left the station and a lot of cities are doing this and we have not," Councilman Eugene Brown said, summarizing.

Opponents of the change marshaled 34 speakers, by Mayor Bill Bell's count. Their view, in general, was that allowing Fairway and other companies to erect digital billboards would damage the city's appearance.

Several noted that companies in the billboard industry aren't always particular about whom they sell display space to, ensuring that motorists would see messages they might find objectionable.

Despite Fairway's promise to lend a hand to local nonprofits, a different picture is apparent to people as they drive through counties west of the Triangle, said Seth Vidal.

On the digital billboards there, "I saw on them [ads for] strip clubs, fast food, fireworks, lap dances, outlet stores," but not a single public service announcement "of any kind," Vidal said.

Other critics said the company's pitch was long on salesmanship but short on data.

"They've done a good spin job, but they haven't documented a thing," said Lavonia Allison, chairwoman of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.

Fairway's case wasn't helped by a billboard advertising the upcoming Dixie Gun & Knife Show in Raleigh that was placed on a display overlooking the new R. Kelly Bryant Jr. pedestrian bridge over the Durham Freeway.

That touched a raw nerve for Councilman Howard Clement, given Bryant's opposition to Fairway's request and the violence that troubles neighborhoods in east Durham.

The juxtaposition was "offensive," said Clement, who also asked company officials why they opted to float the proposal in Durham instead of in Raleigh, their local base.

"Honestly, we came to Durham first because we thought Durham was the most open-minded and progressive city" in the Triangle, said Paul Hickman, Fairway's area general manager.

Clement wasn't buying. "Well, I tell you, I'm really flattered," he said, to laughter from opponents.

Monday's vote came a week before County Commissioners are scheduled to review the same request.

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Durham Council votes unanimously against digital billboards
By Lisa Sorg, Indy Weekly, 02 Aug 2010

It wasn’t the dozen pairs of blinking sunglasses or the parade of nonprofit groups pleading their cases, but a photo of the R. Kelly Bryant Jr. Bridge that may have made the biggest impact on the Durham City Council’s vote on digital billboards.

The graceful pedestrian bridge, which spans N.C. 147, serves as the eastern gateway to Durham and joins northern and southern neighborhoods that had been fractured by the highway. And posted near one of its ends is a billboard advertising the Dixie Gun & Knife Show happening this weekend in Raleigh.

The clash of these two landmarks underscored public and council concerns about the impact of digital billboards on aesthetics and property values—without any proven benefits to offset these social and financial costs. After more than three hours of public hearing and discussion, Durham City Council voted unanimously, 7-0, to keep the current billboard ordinance, which prohibits digital billboards.

Councilmembers had received more than 1,000 e-mails from the public in favor of keeping the current ordinance, which does not allow digital billboards. Less than 10 e-mails asked for a change to permit them.

"This issue has united Durham like no other," said Councilman Mike Woodard, shortly before voting to keep the current ordinance.

One of the 1,000 e-mails was from the bridge's namesake, who asked that Council keep the current ordinance.

"What are we going to do about that billboard?" asked Councilman Howard Clement.

Lewis Cheek, an attorney for K&L Gates, the firm representing Fairway Outdoor Advertising, noted erroneously that only by changing the ordinance could that billboard come down.

Councilwoman Diane Catotti contradicted Cheek, noting that the billboard could indeed be dismantled under the current ordinance—it just couldn’t be replaced.

"Durham has nothing to gain from [the change]," Catotti added.

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Digital billboards get 7-0 'NO'
By Jim Wise, N&O Bull's Eye Blog, 02 Aug 2010

A billboard company's two-year campaign to bring digital signs to Durham got a unanimous No from the City Council Monday night.

The 7-0 vote came after almost four hours of comments and questions during the council's regular meeting, though the council's mood became quickly clear after the public-comment period ended and members began asking their own questions and making comments of their own.

Fairway Outdoor Advertising, the Georgia company that owns most of the billboards in Durham County, had requested the council to change Durham's Unified Development Ordinance to allow it to relocate some of its signs, upgrade some and convert some to digital operation.

"This is not the fair way for Durham to proceed," said Councilman Eugene Brown. "It is the wrong way."

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Breaking: City Council unanimously maintains billboard ban
Bull City Rosing, 02 Aug 2010

After more than three hours of debate, the City Council reached a decision on the controversial billboard issue tonight -- and it was unanimous.

The motion proposed by advocates for the billboard industry failed, 0-7, despite a decent turnout by billboard proponents and non-profits -- though the industry still lagged in emails and letters to the Council, opponents emphasized.

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