Public rallies around mobile ad trucks
/ Filed in: Regulation
(Virginian-Pilot,
The (Norfolk, VA) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun.
28--Virginia Beach's strict regulation of street advertising has
always seemed kind of odd, over the top -- and not always applied
fairly.
For more than two decades, the city has prohibited companies from constructing new billboards. The policy was designed to remove unsightly come-ons from thoroughfares, as council members and city officials embarked on a beautification campaign.
For more than two decades, the city has prohibited companies from constructing new billboards. The policy was designed to remove unsightly come-ons from thoroughfares, as council members and city officials embarked on a beautification campaign.
This so-called
blight-busting has trimmed the number of billboards from 63 in 1987
to 28 today. Longtime residents believe major thoroughfares are
more aesthetically pleasing.
So far, so good. Too many billboards, with too much junk being pitched, is unsightly. Some even get risque. A strip club in Walls, Miss., had a "Got Boobs?" campaign last year before it compromised with town officials and changed the script.
Still, city leaders in the Beach get downright paranoid about advertising on public streets, spending so much time and effort on the subject that it must leave officials in other localities shaking their heads.
That brings us to the Admobile and Tuesday's Beach City Council set-to.
For the uninitiated, the rolling trucks flash up to 12 advertising signs while also making pickups and deliveries. Over the past few years, city officials considered the trucks a violation of Beach ordinances. Elaine Cayton, co-owner of AHR Communications Inc., which operates Admobile, considered that unfair.
I'd call the regulations a double standard.
Cayton told me she was surprised by the reception she's received since opening for business in the region in 2005. Her five trucks have operated in Chesapeake, Norfolk and Newport News without complaint. She's said she's only met resistance in the Beach -- where her business is based.
"Our trucks are lodged there," Cayton says. "We pay taxes there -- including personal property taxes. We got the business license there."
This is what I don't get: HRT buses routinely advertise jackpots for games such as Mega Millions. Contractors from plumbers to builders to exterminators have signs on their trucks, including phone numbers to their businesses. Some in pretty big type. I'm sure Virginian-Pilot trucks roll occasionally along the streets of the state's largest city, too. ("Use It! Call 446-9000.")
If you wanted to get technical about it, shouldn't these vehicles have been banned, too? They were all advertising their wares. Otherwise, plain, nondescript cars, trucks and buses would've been used.
"That is a fine line," City Councilwoman Reba McClanan, who opposes Admobile's signage, conceded Friday.
But McClanan said the bigger issue is there probably will be an attempt by larger billboard companies, such as Adams Outdoor Advertising, to erode current bans in the Beach. Most citizens, she said, "like a green, livable, family-oriented city," and current regulations are "much more conducive to that."
The pertinent Beach ordinance, discussed for 2-1/2 hours Tuesday night, said there could be no advertising on a vehicle if its primary purpose was advertising, said Karen Lasley, the city's zoning administrator.
But how do you define "primary"? Is it based on the amount of revenue raised? Number of hours on the street? Who monitors that? Cayton, the Admobile co-owner, says her trucks made 3,000 pickups and deliveries in the past 12 months in the Beach alone, many for governmental agencies and nonprofit groups. However, "We derive more revenue from advertising than from deliveries," she notes.
With a slim 6-5 vote, the council modified the ordinance. Now, vehicles can have advertising, as long as they're not solely used for that purpose.
Lasley says the change could allow several more rolling billboard companies to traverse the city's roads. McClanan added:"I think on this one, the citizens lost a lot."
But there's no need to fear the trucks. They don't bite. The Admobiles of the world just want to sell us something -- like practically every other vehicle on the road with writing on it. It's up to us to pay attention, or just look the other way.
Roger Chesley is associate editor of The Pilot's editorial page. Reach him at (757) 446-2329 or at roger.chesley@pilotonline.com.
To see more of the The Virginian-Pilot, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pilotonline.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
So far, so good. Too many billboards, with too much junk being pitched, is unsightly. Some even get risque. A strip club in Walls, Miss., had a "Got Boobs?" campaign last year before it compromised with town officials and changed the script.
Still, city leaders in the Beach get downright paranoid about advertising on public streets, spending so much time and effort on the subject that it must leave officials in other localities shaking their heads.
That brings us to the Admobile and Tuesday's Beach City Council set-to.
For the uninitiated, the rolling trucks flash up to 12 advertising signs while also making pickups and deliveries. Over the past few years, city officials considered the trucks a violation of Beach ordinances. Elaine Cayton, co-owner of AHR Communications Inc., which operates Admobile, considered that unfair.
I'd call the regulations a double standard.
Cayton told me she was surprised by the reception she's received since opening for business in the region in 2005. Her five trucks have operated in Chesapeake, Norfolk and Newport News without complaint. She's said she's only met resistance in the Beach -- where her business is based.
"Our trucks are lodged there," Cayton says. "We pay taxes there -- including personal property taxes. We got the business license there."
This is what I don't get: HRT buses routinely advertise jackpots for games such as Mega Millions. Contractors from plumbers to builders to exterminators have signs on their trucks, including phone numbers to their businesses. Some in pretty big type. I'm sure Virginian-Pilot trucks roll occasionally along the streets of the state's largest city, too. ("Use It! Call 446-9000.")
If you wanted to get technical about it, shouldn't these vehicles have been banned, too? They were all advertising their wares. Otherwise, plain, nondescript cars, trucks and buses would've been used.
"That is a fine line," City Councilwoman Reba McClanan, who opposes Admobile's signage, conceded Friday.
But McClanan said the bigger issue is there probably will be an attempt by larger billboard companies, such as Adams Outdoor Advertising, to erode current bans in the Beach. Most citizens, she said, "like a green, livable, family-oriented city," and current regulations are "much more conducive to that."
The pertinent Beach ordinance, discussed for 2-1/2 hours Tuesday night, said there could be no advertising on a vehicle if its primary purpose was advertising, said Karen Lasley, the city's zoning administrator.
But how do you define "primary"? Is it based on the amount of revenue raised? Number of hours on the street? Who monitors that? Cayton, the Admobile co-owner, says her trucks made 3,000 pickups and deliveries in the past 12 months in the Beach alone, many for governmental agencies and nonprofit groups. However, "We derive more revenue from advertising than from deliveries," she notes.
With a slim 6-5 vote, the council modified the ordinance. Now, vehicles can have advertising, as long as they're not solely used for that purpose.
Lasley says the change could allow several more rolling billboard companies to traverse the city's roads. McClanan added:"I think on this one, the citizens lost a lot."
But there's no need to fear the trucks. They don't bite. The Admobiles of the world just want to sell us something -- like practically every other vehicle on the road with writing on it. It's up to us to pay attention, or just look the other way.
Roger Chesley is associate editor of The Pilot's editorial page. Reach him at (757) 446-2329 or at roger.chesley@pilotonline.com.
To see more of the The Virginian-Pilot, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pilotonline.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
