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Billboard's digital debate

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By DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star

Tuesday, Nov 21, 2006 - 09:29:26 am CST

The City Council continued to listen to public opinion Monday on how and whether to regulate digital billboards and business signs’ animation and brightness.

Digital billboards allow multiple businesses to advertise on one billboard.

The city is considering legalizing digital billboards at the request of LaMar Outdoor Advertising, which owns most of the city's several hundred billboards.

Story Photo

As written, the zoning change would:

* Allow the digital technology on billboards unless they face houses, parks and cemeteries.

* Require digital billboards to go dark from midnight to 5 a.m., except to display public emergency alerts.

* Allow the advertisement to change every 10 seconds, with some animated transition for up to two seconds.

* Limit the brightness of the signs.

*  Require the billboards to be at least 5,000 feet apart.

Digital technology is already legal on business signs that are less than 80 square feet, but the proposed zoning change would also regulate these signs.

Digital business signs' brightness would be restricted and their messages would have to be held for at least three seconds.

Animation would only be allowed downtown, and sign “transitions” would have to be held for at least two seconds and be limited to fading, scrolling or dissolving.

Most existing digital business signs in Lincoln are technically illegal. The city sign code only allows flashing and blinking signs downtown, and then only for “public messages” such as the time and temperature.

Why the downtown exception?

“Because downtown is our answer to Las Vegas,” city-county planning director Marvin Krout said.

When the council votes on the zoning changes on Dec. 4, it may consider two amendments to the section regulating business signs. One is a small compromise, in which the minimum hold time would be reduced from three to two seconds.

The second more significant amendment would eliminate the concept of a hold time and allow any kind of animation except flashing and blinking anywhere in Lincoln.

 Krout opposes the more substantial amendment, which is supported by Bob Norris of Nebraska Neon Sign Co.

Norris said the amendment Krout favors over-regulates the signs and is an attempt to legislate aesthetics.

“Once you start, I don't know where you stop,” he said.

Lynn Darling lobbied the council not to legalize digital billboards. In fact, she said she’d rather not see any billboards as in other cities.

Darling said she served on a billboard study group in the past and “experienced the enormous powers these companies wield.”

The Lincoln Independent Business Association has previously come out against the proposed regulations for business signs and proposed three “pro-business” amendments: remove the three-second hold requirement, allow animation and remove limits on fading, scrolling and dissolving signs.

Councilman Ken Svoboda has said he wants to reduce the “hold time” for business signs to one second; eliminate the ban on animation; increase the brightness allowed and remove the ban on transition techniques.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com


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Meh wrote on November 21, 2006 12:59 am:
" Frankly, I've never seen the point of long scrolling messages on a sign that you pass in a second or two. (Pershing's sign is a great example this idiocic and ineffective tactic). On the other hand, don't really care what they do and don't understand why things like "hold time', "transitions", "intensity" and such need to be spelled out with such elaborate specificity. And by people who really have no clue about such matters. What next? Color? Font size? "
Steve wrote on November 21, 2006 6:40 am:
" We don't need any more advertising in our lives. If you want to allow digital bill boards, then ban bulk mail and the 50 pounds of crap we get in the newspaper every week. "
Jan wrote on November 21, 2006 8:14 am:
" Good grief. Lets regulate signs to death. There should be limit on size and brightness but after that leave it alone. Why in world is the council involved in animations etc etc? Talk about over regulating. "
uh huh wrote on November 21, 2006 8:35 am:
" Heaven forbid Lincoln would be similar in any way, shape or form to Las Vegas, a town that grows by leaps and bounds and doesn't tax its inhabitants to death! "
Marvin Krout-when's your comedy tour? wrote on November 21, 2006 8:50 am:
" “Because downtown is our answer to Las Vegas,” city-county planning director Marvin Krout said. That is the quote of the year. No comments necessary. I laughed for a long time. "
yoshiki wrote on November 21, 2006 9:45 am:
" My dad used to say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Seems like the same applies to here. "
Get Real wrote on November 21, 2006 10:21 am:
" Why is the local government so anti-business. God forbid we try to live in Lincoln, start a business, try to gain customers, raise our kids, pay our taxes, use other services, on and on and on. Does logic not exist with these people, have you ever heard of capitalism. Stop being so stupidly dramatic and wasting my taxpayer dollars to attempt a regulation for something so trivial. Marvin Krout should be fired and kicked out of Lincoln...he is a side show in itself. "
video wrote on November 21, 2006 10:56 am:
" it is all about video. Do you want plasma screens showing TV quality video or not? And if you allow it one place, then everyone is going to want an 80 square foot TV screen showing full motion video. That is the question. And to those people who say those 80 sq foot TV's are too expensive, remember in Tech, prices drop 50% every two years so those screens will be here in a few years -- again the question is about allowing a full motion video screen along the side of the road -- anywhere. "
Jodi wrote on November 21, 2006 12:51 pm:
" I agree with limiting intensity and size, but as to the rest, perhaps we could try one or two digital billboards and then try to figure out if we need restrictions on animation and such. Personally, I think animation might be easier to view than trying to read a scrolling display that moves just a bit slow. But honestly, all one would need to do after installing these billboards is to throw a link up here for the public to voice their opinion on whether it's too distracting (or, for that matter, whether other electronic signage is too distracting) for people who are driving. The public is getting pretty good at voicing their upsets online! "
You Get Real wrote on November 21, 2006 1:07 pm:
" Local government is not anti-business. As a taxpayer myself, nothing would please me more than to see the local government deny the digital billboards. If you people want flashing neon lights and want to be like Las Vegas, then go to Las Vegas. I on the other hand have to "actually" live here and do not want tv screens anywhere in Lincoln. It will not support the asthetics of Lincoln. Has anyone seen the gas station with the McDonalds' sign on West O St? It looks like crap and I am certainly glad I do not live in that area or have to drive by often. Lincolnites need to take this message to heart, "Let Lincoln be Lincoln." There is no need to "catch up with the times" or become something we can only see on tv or when we travel hundreds of miles to see. The grass is not always greener on the other side. Enough said? No to digital billboards!!!! "
I wrote on November 21, 2006 1:57 pm:
" To uh huh below, Las Vegas doesn't tax their inhabitants to death because they make enough money taxing just the casinos and entertainment. Yet Nebraskans have consistently stopped major gambling from entering this State. Which is fine as not everyplace in America can be Las Vegas, that would be completely unrealistic and give little attention to that thing called supply and demand (if casinos were as common as Walmart, who'd travel that far away to go to one, so the only business casinos in Nebraska would do is from the local inhabitants, unlike Las Vegas that get customers nationwide, maybe even international). So Lincoln and most every other city in this nation will never have personal tax rates as low as Las Vegas, it's not possible unless another form of revenue can be thought up, Don't for once think Las Vegas takes in less tax dollars than Lincoln, they just tax the casinos and entertainment much more. In the end money for public projects have to come from somewhere, and it all works out in the end to be about even. Maybe if casinos in Las Vegas weren't taxed than they could pay their employees more, yet then the money would have to come from the employees directly. That's the way it is in Lincoln and Nebraska in general. (don't even think about comparing wages in Las Vegas and Lincoln to say businesses' pay less in Lincoln, of course they do cost of living is much lower here than Las Vegas, and revenues are much less due to that lower cost of living....again the math all works out....overall it's more expenses even with less personal taxes to live in Las Vegas than it does to live here, even being taxed individually at a higher rate). Some people are so blind. "
What? wrote on November 21, 2006 2:53 pm:
" I don't understand the advertising. If you don't have competition you have rising prices. Believe you me, Lincoln has little to no competition and mighty high prices!! So why all the big bucks spent on TOP QUALITY advertising. Again, lets spend the very most and highest bucks for the BEST of everything, and let the taxpayers fork up the big bucks as usual. It as usual doesn't add up, all the big advertising for the few "friends" to put on a show that Lincoln is some fabulous city going gung ho. Let me clue you in, people aren't that dumb. From coast to coast they already know, Lincoln is one of the most expensive places to live and do business!! Theres already too many people that think they are equal to the Queen of England. "
BJ wrote on November 21, 2006 4:34 pm:
" What happened to the federal law the disallows new Billboard's to be built? IF small comercial banner signs in Beatrice were not legal how can this pass the test of the law? "
Welcome wrote on November 21, 2006 6:22 pm:
" Hey Lincoln, welcome to the 21st century!! "
Stand UP wrote on November 21, 2006 7:18 pm:
" Lets regulate the Font style and size of the signs. Oh, and we have to have a certain amount of Red to support the Huskers. I think there should only be 3 colors at a time on the screen. We could regulate how many slides per minute. They should be multi-lingual. We have a lot of refugees in town, so bi-lingual won't do. We need to regulate this to death. That is the Lincoln way. Except downtown. Krout is a fool and lacks the imagination to coordinate the plans for growth of this city. Wichita was glad to get rid of Krout. I think the door did hit him in the "you know where" when he left. He has his head up there. He works at the pleasure of the mayor. I can't believe the next mayor will choose to have him around. Read the comprehensive plan. They want to strangle the city growth. The city will double in size in the next couple of decades. There are no real plans for job growth unless you work at a strip mall, for an insurance company, state government or the university. They are letting acreages sprout up where prime development land sits. There won't be any parcels of land available for the commercial and industrial growth to come. We'll be commuting to Omaha for the higher paying jobs. Or we'll just move and follow the jobs (Gallup?) Hey, Marvin. Polish up the resume. "
kevin wrote on November 21, 2006 7:53 pm:
" If digital advertising becomes legal, just stick them where the billboards are now, I'm sure they are properly spaced out. the whole thing with animation would only be allowed downtown is absolutely silly what is good for downtown is good for the rest of the city "

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