Digital Billboards...who needs street lights!

Ditgital billboard could soon light up your homes. It is buried in a settlement agreement that would allow these energy monsters. This is not an ordinance that can be modified at a later date these are legally binding agreements between the City of Tampa and the billboard giants Clear Channel and CBS Outdoors. City Council will revisit the issue on March 5th but the only time to speak out is before Council starts on the agenda. For information from other communities and talking points

City Council took up the issue of the settlement agreements between the City of Tampa and Clear Channel and CBS Outdoors on February 5th. As was said during the public comments and echoed by some members of City Council, the original settlement agreement was awful and this one was merely bad. I guess that is improvement. It has now been delayed until March 5th. It was good to see this process slowed or delayed. Councilman John Dingfelder made a good connection in asking what was the initial reason for the litigation by Clear Channel and CBS Outdoors. For Clear Channel it was the view corridors (Kennedy, Swann, MacDill) identified in the original agreement. For CBS Outdoors it was the fact that the original agreement had expired.This agreement would have gone far beyond the initial Clear Channel litigation. It also was beyond the CBS Outdoors litigation. The challenge is that it has so far only been delayed in a motion made by Councilman Charlie Miranda.

The big issue is digital billboards that change the message every 6 to 10 seconds. A huge distraction to drivers already struggling to stay focused on the road conditions. For urban neighborhoods it is the potential for horrendous light pollution. As one Council member stated we are not Times Square. Amen. I think that between now and March 5th City Council members need to hear lots of opposition to digital billboards in Seminole Heights and other central Tampa neighborhoods. Go look at the digital billboard at Dale Mabry & Waters and envision those lighting up 275 and the major roads running through our neighborhood.

Swamp their offices with messages of "no digital billboards" in our neighborhoods. Drive past your "favorite" neighborhood billboard, now imaging it converted to digital and sucking up enough energy to light yours and 12 other neighbors homes, and now image it is bright enough to be seen for 2 or 3 miles and glows 24/7! How many of these monsters will it take to wreck our community?
Mayor's Office
Pam Iorio, Mayor
306 East Jackson Street , Tampa, Florida 33602
Phone: (813) 274-8251 Fax: (813) 274-7050
Contact Pam Iorio

Gwen Miller, District 1 At-Large
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Olivia "Libby" Wilson, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-7072
Contact Gwen Miller

Mary Mulhern, District 2 At-Large
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Christina Voehl, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-7071
Email Mary Mulhern

Linda Saul-Sena, District 3 At-Large
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Rhonda Y. Smalls, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-8134
Contact Linda Saul-Sena

Councilman John Dingfelder, District 4
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Cynthia Sarff and James Reese, Legislative Aides
(813) 274-8133
Email John Dingfelder

Councilman Thomas Scott, District 5
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Belinda Allen, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-8189
Contact Thomas Scott

Charlie Miranda, District 6
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Mary Bryan, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-7074
Contact Charlie Miranda

Councilman Joseph Caetano, District 7
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Thomas Nguyen, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-7073
Contact Joseph Caetano