Blog: Occupy Phoenixville Objects to Corporate Bullying

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Thaddeus J. Bartkowski, CEO of Chester County Outdoor and a dizzying mix of other billboard companies, has as the latest municipality in his game of corporate bullying.

The proposed signs would be 40 feet wide, 12 feet high, and 43 feet up from the ground, with signage on both sides illuminated by LED lights, with changing messages. The proposed locations are all on Nutt Road, Route 23, as it passes through the borough.

The borough’s very detailed zoning ordinance does allow free-standing signage, which these would be. It also allows off-site advertising, which these would also be. It does not, for good reason, permit signs of this size within borough boundaries.

Bartkowski has created multiple companies, which have appealed rejected permits in the following townships or municipalities:

1. Adsmart: Lower Merion
2. B.I.G. (Bartkowski Investment Group): Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Marple, Springfield, Morton, Newtown Square
3. MC Outdoor: Abington, Springfield, East Norriton
4. Chester County Outdoor: Springfield, Westtown
5. Catalyst Outdoor Advertising: Lower Moreland, West Chester, Doylestown
6. Mid-Atlantic Development Partners: Concord

Bartkowski’s corporate ambitions have cost countless hours to citizens in the communities listed above, and have already cost hundreds of thousands of tax-payer dollars in legal fees spent defending appropriate, reasonable ordinances.

One immediate solution would be a bill from the state legislature giving municipalities the right to ban billboards outright. Currently, local ordinances that completely exclude billboards are considered illegal.

Another, even better solution, would be a bill from the state legislature banning billboards of any kind, or banning digital billboards. Hawaii banned all billboards in the 1950s, Maine and Vermont passed billboard bans in the 1970s, and Alaska passed a state referendum in 1998 prohibiting all billboards. Rhode Island and Oregon have prohibited construction of new billboards, and Montana bans digital billboards on all interstate and primary roadways.

The Supreme Court has consistently upheld the right of communities, cities and states to restrict billboard use for reasons of aesthetics and safety, even if those restrictions appear exclusionary.

Phoenixville citizens should continue to express their support of the borough. By far the best way to do this is to attend zoning commission meetings, but here’s a petition to post as well:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/12/preserve-the-historic-skyline-of-phoenixville/

Reasons for opposing digital billboards:

Rights guaranteed by the PA Constitution: Article 1 Section 27 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania says “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the  natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.” Billboards destroy the scenic, historic, and esthetic value of the community, and promote visual blight.

Safety: The Outdoor Advertising Association of America likes to cite two studies that found that digital billboards don’t distract drivers, and have no safety consequences. Both studies were paid for by the Association, and independent review prepared for the Maryland State Highway Administration found both studies misleading, inconsistent, and highly biased. Scenic.org lists other studies, and notes that “It seems common sense that digital billboards are distracting, after all, that's their job. But while the billboard industry tells advertisers ‘drivers won't be able to avoid them,’ they tell regulators that the signs don't pose a safety hazard since the signs are designed to attract attention,  

Phoenixville, as a walkable community, depends on alert, attentive drivers to see pedestrians and watch for cars turning onto main roads from oddly angled side roads. In a driving environment that is already congested and distracting, digital billboards would add a significant hazard to both driver and pedestrian safety.

Urban Blight: Billboards substantially lower property values of those impacted, and harm the overall reputation of the community. While the signs generate profits for the billboard companies, the companies they advertise for, and the property owner who rents the space, sign clutter can distract attention for local business, can redirect consumer dollars from the local economy, and can discourage further investment in local properties.  

Classic Town Aesthetic: After working hard to earn a Classic Town designation, Phoenixville is on its way to being a destination location for the neighboring region. Large digital billboards would reverse that perception of Phoenixville and jeopardize that designation.

Pollution: Digital billboards can consume 30 times the energy of the average American household, and the thousands of LED lights and oversize plasma screen will eventually contribute significant amounts of electronic waste.

For information about other communities impacted and groups working to protect citizens' rights in this, check the following websites:

The Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC)
Scenic.org - a national group researching citizens rights to a scenic environment SCRUB: Public Voice for Public Space - an active Philadelphia group
No Billboards -a coalition of five communities that have been battling this for years
The Abington Citizen's Network - a compilation of information about all the local communities impacted 

Please come to the zoning board meeting at 7 p.m. on Dec. 14 in Borough Hall, invite others to join you, and come prepared to speak, even if it's just to say: "We don't want them."
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