Berlin’s Billboard “Battle” a Bit Over-blown
One local news station called it a “battle” over adult business billboards, but I think “battle” is overstating the case.
The Berlin Citizen hit closer to the mark covering a story related to, yet seperate from, the continuing VIP issue in Berlin.
“Can you do anything about those billboards?” is a comment that comes up a lot. Drivers along I-91 and I-84 pass several billboards for not only VIP, but several other similar stores. Many people say it is especially uncomfortable when they have children in the car with them. Others say things like out-of-towners might get the impression that “adult businesses” are all Hartford has to offer.
The most offensive billboard situation, for my neighborhood at least, isn’t the interstate billboards, but a billboard about 3/4 of a mile from our neighborhood, en route to our elementary school, on Rt. 372, which featured a board for Penthouse Boutique on one side, and VIP on the other side. More egregious, these boards are right across the street from a church, Bethany Covenant.
Frankly, the effort to keep an adult store from being my next door neighbor is my main concern. I also didn’t really know if anything could be done. I did a little googling on the subject of billboards and came across the website for the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the lead trade association representing the outdoor advertising industry.
The OAAA Code of Industry Principles states:
We are careful to place outdoor advertisements for products illegal for sale to minors on advertising displays that are a reasonable distance from the public places where children most frequently congregate.
We are committed to a program that establishes exclusionary zones that prohibit stationary advertisements of products illegal for sale to minors that are intended to be read from, or within 500 feet of, elementary and secondary schools, public playgrounds, and established places of worship.
We support establishing reasonable limits on the total number of outdoor displays in a market that may carry messages about products that are illegal for sale to minors.
I mentioned this finding to Stan, a neighbor and active member of our neighborhood group. Stan began contacting the company, which is located in New Jersey. He eventually got through to the owner, and explained the local situation, and told him the boards were clearly within 500′ of a church, which they company seemed unaware of.
With some persistence and cajoling on Stan’s part, the owner of the billboards agreed that the boards were possibly in violation of the OAAA principles. These are not legaling-binding, necessarily, but the company was willing to work on resolving the situation. The Penthouse Boutique ad has been moved to another location owned by the billboard company. The VIP board is under contract for a few more months. Now that the billboard company is aware of the violation, though, they will advise that the location is no longer available for adult business advertising.
If you find advertising to be offensive or in violation of standards… find out who is in control of it and TELL them. All billboards have the name of the company that owns them and usually a phone number along the bottom of the frame. There is also an ID# for that board, if possible give the company the exact location by providing this number.
Stan and I would love to see some local businesses place ads on the boards across from the church, both to thank the billboard company for addressing the community concerns, and to keep those boards from otherwise being blank, or having undesirable advertisers ever again.
The REAL story here is that something CAN be done, and one individual CAN effect change. Kudos to Stan!
on May 6, 2007 on 5:58 pm
Thanks for this valuable post. Here’s more about how to report offensive billboards:
http://nopornnorthampton.org/2006/12/24/reporting-an-offensive-billboard.aspx
on May 9, 2007 on 5:20 pm
I agree that the billboard is too close to a church, but I’m also wondering why the Town of Berlin gives Saint Paul’s Church $50,000 a year. Sounds like the townspeople of Berlin again have been duped into parting of their hard earned dollars for the Mayors personal agenda. $50,000 for a church, $25,000 to fight a porn store. Is the true agenda of Berlin, the Mayor, and the Attorney General, to line the pockets of their friends? How about all the prostitution, drug dealing and other illegal activities at Centerfolds…..or do town officials look the other way….because they frequent the place?
on May 9, 2007 on 6:41 pm
Hi John,
The town of Berlin had nothing to do with the billboard issue. A resident of Berlin contacted the billboard company, informing them of the violation of their own industry standards. This has nothing to do with the Mayor.
I don’t know much about the St. Paul’s Church school bus issue, but I remember something about Berlin providing the buses for St. Paul’s students for many years, not something new that came along with Adam Salina.
What kind of personal agenda are you talking about? The “Mayor” in our system of town government is one member of the *seven* member Town Council. How would any of the issues mentioned line anyone’s pockets?
Centerfolds was “grandfathered” in because it existed before the SOB ordinance. If anything, the measures being taken to appropriately zone sexually oriented businesses in town is to prevent or deter further illegal activities like those you mention. (I have heard that the owner of Centerfold’s, who has been setting up an adjacent pizza parlor, is planning to close the strip club and set up as a regular restaurant.)
Until this VIP stuff, I had never been to any town meetings, or involved in anything political. This whole process has shown me how much time and effort our elected officials, both Democratic and Republican, put into working on behalf of Berlin. I had no idea how much time was involved. I don’t think they have any spare time to be ogling dancers at Centerfold’s.