LED Billboards WRONG for Residential Areas

LED Billboards are WRONG for Residential Areas for the very reason they are great for Billboard companies.

Image changes every 8 second for a 64 second series

Quoting the Billboard Insider

The driver can’t help but read its rotating messages as they drive past, first about the local ER, next a Cajun restaurant advertising a delicious looking signature dish just off the next exit, without realizing it the driver absorbed 2 messages in the 20 second window the LED board was in view. However, your static message went unnoticed!

Ref: http://billboardinsider.com/led-versus-static-why-digital-billboards/ article from Friday, April 28, 2017, By Eric LaGattuta, On-site Advertising Consultant, LED National

The length of digital billboard ads is a standard 8 seconds before the message changes and is part of a 64 second loop.

In residential neighborhoods we tend to blank out the billboards because we see them every day and they become background noise.  The digital billboard is specifically designed so that you can blank them out.  They change the display so the human mind always looks.  It is one thing to be driving along a highway at 60 mph and only paying attention for 20 seconds, it is a whole other story if you are forced to see it 24/7 forever.

 It is one thing to be driving along a highway at 60 mph and only paying attention for 20 seconds, it is a whole other story if you are forced to see it 24/7 forever.

In the same article they say,

Due to the constant changing of the ads, driver’s eyes are automatically drawn to the motion and color so your ad is seen and absorbed more effectively than if it were on a static billboard in the same spot.

This is not something resident should have to see and is why the Philadelphia zoning codes states digital billboard have to 1000 ft away from residential zoned areas.  There was a reason.

While attending the last community meeting at Pennsport Civic for the architect asked if anyone noticed the lights changing on the sign and again did a trick during his presentation that changed the presentation at the speed the typically digital billboard would change.  Other than making me frustrated because I was trying to read and understand the full development presentation, it was not a truly representative sample of a changing billboard.  But he sure did want to try and make a point.

Can you image sitting in your bedroom on your 3rd floor to see a giant billboard change every 8 seconds?

Pennsport is not New York’s Times Square, Tokyo or Las Vegas.

An LED billboard essentially is a huge TV that plays moving ads by the side of the road. LED billboards have been enthusiastically embraced in some places, such as New York’s Times Square, Tokyo and Las Vegas. They’ve been banned in others as a distraction to drivers.

Source: Print vs. LED Billboard Advertising | Chron.com by Mary Strain

Some LED billboards are so bright that they can be seen from miles away — a fact that has inspired complaints from nearby residents.

In our Green City, do we want displays in our Residential Neighborhoods using power 24 / 7?

And if yours is a “green” business, you might want to consider the fact that LED billboards have been criticized by environmentalists as energy-wasters because unlike traditional billboards, they use energy all day and night.

Print vs. LED Billboard Advertising | Business & Entrepreneurship – azcentral.com

Drivers zipping down the freeway can’t help but notice the constantly changing messages blazing from the brightly lit screens of LED billboards. While print billboards are often lit up for nighttime viewing, LED billboards stand out even more with their blazing lights once it gets dark.

Source: Print vs. LED Billboard Advertising | Business & Entrepreneurship – azcentral.com

LED vs Static: Why digital billboards | Billboard Insider

By Eric LaGattuta, On-site Advertising Consultant, LED National Cruising down the highway on the way to work, running errands while the kids are at school, or maybe a family road trip across the country; thousands of drivers a day pass by the advertisement you purchased on a prime location billboard in the hopes of boosting your revenue, but how many of them actually notice and absorb your message? What is the difference between the billboard your ad is on from […]

Source: LED vs Static: Why digital billboards | Billboard Insider

Petition Say “NO” to a proposed sky-high digital billboard in Pennsport

There is a proposal for the long-vacant Freda Meats factory on Front Street in Pennsport to become a a mixed-use project with 48 apartments, a ground-floor

Mockup of a 120 ft. tall double-sided digital billboard at the Freda Meat site on Front Street, one view looking from the north and one looking from the south. Click each to enlarge.
Mockup of a 120 ft. tall double-sided digital billboard at the Freda Meat site on Front Street, one view looking from the north and one looking from the south. Click each to enlarge.

parking garage, 4 townhouses and 30,000 sq. ft of commercial space. While the concept of transforming this Pennsport block is supported by neighbors, they are opposed to a part of the project that calls for a 120 foot tall double-sided digital billboard to hover high above the development.

What does a sky-high digital billboard have to do with a mixed-used development?  You might not be suprised to learn that Keystone Outdoor Advertising owns the building, making this project not just about fixing this block but about raising a giant double-sided billboard high above I-95 and the surrounding neighborhood!

A bright blinking billboard 12-stories high would be visible from across the city, from Society Hill to Whitman.  Join Pennsport neighbors and sign the petition below telling Councilman Squilla not to approve any more billboard blight in Philadelphia!

http://org.salsalabs.com/o/2436/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=21554

Philadelphia Code Sign Controls

Digital signs shall not be erected or converted from non-digital to digital within 500 ft. of any residentially zoned district, nor face any residentially zoned district within 1,000 ft. of the sign.

mapping 500ft and 1000ft
mapping 500ft and 1000ft
§ 14-904. Accessory Sign Controls.
Digital Display.
(.1)   Location.
(.a)   Digital displays are permitted in base zoning districts as set forth in Table 14-904-1.
(.b)   Digital displays are prohibited within 200 ft. of any intersection of any two or more streets.
(.c)   Digital displays are prohibited within 150 ft. of a residential district or facing any residential district within 300 ft. of the digital display.
§ 14-905.  Non-Accessory Signs.
(3)   Distances from Residential District Property.
No sign support structure or sign face shall be erected within 300 ft. of any residentially-zoned property.
(8)   Digital Billboards. 501
(a)   Digital signs shall not be erected or converted from non-digital to digital within 500 ft. of any residentially zoned district, nor face any residentially zoned district within 1,000 ft. of the sign.