Advertising California Out of Debt

As many of you know, San Francisco Beautiful has been taking on the blight created by general advertising, and in particular flashing, digital billboards for years. This editorial in the Sacramento Bee came to our attention and felt that it was worthy to share with you. Governor Schwarzenegger  wants to sell advertising space on state highway message boards in order to fill the state's depleted coffers.

Editorial:
Flashing road ads? Why stop there?

Published: Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 14A

Unwilling to pursue revenue options that have the word "tax" attached to them, the Schwarzenegger administration has floated yet another grasping-at-straws idea to fill the state's depleted coffers.
This time the governor wants to sell advertising space on state highway message boards.
You laugh? Don't.
The proposal is serious. If approved, existing message boards - the ones used to alert drivers to road hazards ahead or abducted children - would be upgraded with LED technology and converted to colorful commercial grade electronic billboards. The state would lease the billboards to outdoor advertising firms and collect the money upfront to help balance the state budget - as much as $2 billion over 20 years for 500 billboards.
But there's a hitch. Because the billboards would operate within the rights of way of interstate highways, the proposal requires a change in federal law. State Transportation Department officials have sent a waiver request to federal highway administrators asking permission.
A federal review of electronic billboard safety is already under way, suggesting the governor's idea is not as far-fetched as some might think. But the review involves e-billboards alongside highways, not on the road itself.
Frankly, we're both hoping and betting that the state's waiver request doesn't go anywhere. Billboards are ugly, and LED billboards are blinking ugly. Not only that, but they could pose a traffic hazard if they distract motorists already distracted by the lunch they are eating and the cell-phone calls they are conducting.
If the Schwarzenegger administration follows this path, it may soon embrace an idea first suggested by Board of Equalization member Bill Leonard - sell naming rights to various state buildings.
"Major corporations pay big bucks to have their names on sports arenas," Leonard said in his weekly newsletter. "It's time California joined the auction. "
Think about the possibilities. The California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in downtown Sacramento could become the Chevron EPA Building.
The California secretary of state's office could be sponsored by Diebold, the controversial maker of digital voting machines.
The Board of Equalization building? Perhaps Clorox could sponsor it - since a lot of bleach is needed to clean up that mold.
Crass? Yes, but preferable to electronic billboards in the middle of state highways. At least a big Terminix sign on the Capitol dome wouldn't be a road hazard.
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