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Dangerous Digital Billboards Coming!

Mayor Got Conned into Bad Deal by Classic "Rope a Dope" Trick

Our Mayor didn't bother to involve his knowledgeable city staff members or even the public in his recent discussions with Clear Channel. Many city and county officials around the country have long and often expensive experiences with the tactics of the billboard industry. Some degree of due diligence is required when considering "too good to be true" agreements with large, out of town business interests. Many communities bring in specialty legal teams for negotiating with billboard companies due to the history of extraordinary levels of litigation and the potential impact on road and highway funding.

HUNDREDS of millions of dollars are at stake, because once we give Clear Channel digital billboards, other sign companies will sue to get their piece of the "new business". The Mayor has fallen for the oldest trick in Clear Channel's book - ROPE A DOPE! Now we must clean up his mistake, BEFORE it's too late and millions of dollars of tax payer funds end up down the drain.

Read all about it.

Clear Channel Executive Slips Up

Tells the Rest of the Story to Pinellas County Commissioners: Oooops!

The revised St. Petersburg sign ordinance would open the door to new billboards, which are currently banned!

After admitting that most of the boards to be removed as part of the deal with the St. Pete Mayor were actually on secondary roads and nearing end of life at 30-40 years, Tom O'Neil, VP Clear Channel then said:

"...We would consider St. Pete a defacto ban. We had no ability to upgrade, no ability to increase height, no ability to relocate. So in a sense, we traded secondary locations for a sign ordinance.  Half the deal was to get a sign ordinance that would allow us some movement and the other half was digital."

Hear it for yourself:

Learn about Digital Billboards by going here to the St. Pete Educational Page and take action.