Digital Billboard Debate in St. Pete

Technology is changing the way we live and do business from iPads and smartphones to billboards.

Yes, billboards. Electronic billboards, similar to giant TV screens, are popping up on roadsides across the nation, prompting debate on whether they belong there at all.

Today, the St. Petersburg City Council takes up the issue. Two neighborhood associations are calling for a citywide ban on digital billboards, which are proposed for nine locations along I-275, I-175 and I-375.

An ordinance to allow digital billboards will have a first reading and public comment at 9 a.m. today at City Hall. A second reading, comment and vote is set for Aug. 18 at 6 p.m.

Clear Channel Outdoor would replace 80 standard billboards with 8 digital billboards, and CBS Outdoor would replace 14 standard billboards with one digital billboard. The digital billboards flash several ads, so the number of billboards along the road would decrease.

City staff that have reviewed the proposal consider the change a reduction in the number of signs, though opponents argue the flashing digital signs allow for a large number of ads to show on a single digital billboard.

The Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) and the Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association have sent out e-mails to drum up support for the ban. Scenic St. Petersburg has urged opponents to contact their councilors.

Clear Channel Outdoor and CBS Outdoor argue that the ads last much longer than the standard billboards and grab people's attentions.

It is not just in the Tampa Bay area that some citizens consider digital billboards a blight. In a recent New York Times article, the leader of a Michigan group opposing the digital signs described tham as "weapons of mass distraction."