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At the end of a summer that included the iPhone and the first political YouTube debate, local motorists are the most recent recipients of the latest technology: digital billboards.
But not everyone asked for this, describing the new advertising method as unnecessary and unsafe.
"The digital billboards are an added assault to the senses," Packer Park Civic Association President Barbara Capozzi said. "Disgraceful, dangerous and downright ugly."
Placed along I-95 near the Stadium District — one facing south 2,000 feet east of Broad Street and one facing north 20 feet south of Third Street — the 14-by-48-foot billboards are part of the eight total that will be placed throughout the Philadelphia area by the end of the year with two others within city limits — one at I-76 at the Walt Whitman Bridge and one along north I-95 in Northeast Philly. A total of five billboards will dot I-95.
According to George Kauker, president of the Philadelphia Division of Clear Channel Outdoor, a nationwide outdoor advertising corporation, under current zoning laws the billboards are not near residential districts and can be found in commercial or industrial areas of the city only.
But Nicole Seitz, program director for the nonprofit Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB), said the billboard on I-76 is in violation, but the others appear to have legal permits.
"In the zoning codes passed in 1991, there are specific areas that are prohibited from outdoor advertising under section 14-1604 in the Philadelphia Zoning Code. One of them is the area within 660 feet of all on- and off-ramps on several highways, including Walt Whitman Bridge," she said, adding SCRUB is looking to have the city revisit the codes and "tighten up" legislation.
The other billboards are in accordance with the codes "depending on how you look at it," she said. "There is a provision of the number of commercial messages at one location. By their very nature, digital billboards could have dozens of commercial messages. That’s how we’re reading it. [The codes are] not designed to address the specific regulations just around digital billboards.
"It seems as if the current zoning code left us vulnerable. [Clear Channel] didn’t have to get any sort of variance from the zoning board. [Philadelphia] is very vulnerable to other billboards being converted," Seitz said, adding the organization is looking at other cities and how they’ve regulated digital billboards.
Since their activation the week of Aug. 20, the billboards have featured public service announcements and educational information, but will eventually offer commercial advertising, Kauker said.
"I think that it brings an added dimension to outdoor advertising because of the immediacy," he said. "[Advertisers] can now change copy with more immediacy than in radio and newspapers, and we can sell a segment of the board and make it more affordable for local advertisements."
Kauker said an average of eight ads loop on the billboards, changing every eight seconds. So far there have been no reported problems or accidents in the area of the billboards, Kauker said. In addition, the brightness will be adjusted when the sun sets to reduce the risk of driver distraction.
But Seitz said they want to see the big picture, especially concerning driver safety.
"We’re looking for the federal government to do a study and the Federal Highway Administration has one planned, but it probably will not be completed until 2009," she said.
According to Clear Channel Outdoor’s Web site, Philadelphia is the first major city in Pennsylvania to have digital billboards and their presence nationwide has proven useful, Kauker said. In February, a multimedia Amber Alert was issued in Minnesota and Kauker said the girl’s rescue can be directly linked to public notification via the billboards. In the same area months later, the billboards were implemented in the aftermath of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse, warning motorists and rerouting them.
Seitz said while the billboards have been a fixture in other cities, they’re still a relatively new technology and their perceived benefits have to be weighed over time.
"We’re only seeing these in cities in the past three to five years," she said. "It’s hard to say at this point what the affect is on drivers."
Seitz and SCRUB are not the only ones with concerns.
"I don’t know how much planning really went into this from the city," Bella Vista Town Watch member John Smyth said, adding the number of billboards, their locations and if they could be a distraction to drivers concerns him. "The only asset I can see is the police said they would be useful with Amber Alerts. Being a Town Watch member, I certainly would want to hear [the police’s] side."
The group has been working with SCRUB to get these issues addressed by city officials.
"If they’re concerned, I’m concerned," the resident of 10th and Bainbridge streets said of SCRUB. "At the end of the day, I’m questioning whether it was good planning."
In the past month, the billboards have shown ads for The Franklin Institute, The Philadelphia Museum of Art and United Way, as well as PSAs from municipal governments and police departments.
First District Community Relations Officer Donato Inverso said he was not aware of the billboards, but felt in an emergency "something like that, in my opinion, would be a good idea."
"We’re just happy that they’re there and they will be able to generate some tips for us. It’s another crime-fighting tool," Lt. Frank Vanore of the Police Public Affairs Unit said of the newly forged relationship between Clear Channel and the FBI Fugitive Task Force to use the billboards for posting local most-wanteds.
Seitz said SCRUB does not disapprove of getting safety messaging to the public, only this method.
"We commend [Clear Channel] for wanting to use them in this way, but there are plenty of other resources to get important messages out to public," she said, citing TV, radio and PennDOT. "That in itself is not a good enough reason to allow the unchecked introduction of traditional billboards into digital billboards next to our roadways.
"There’s a place for everything, but that place isn’t everyplace," Seitz continued. "Until we get the public safety question cleared up, the most prudent thing to do is hold off. Once the traffic engineering community weighs in, they are in the condition to say this use can take place with a minimal amount of negative impact."
