Only In America: Billboards Have Rights, Trees Don't.
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 09.15.08
Before: Evil city trees blocking view of billboards
In Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, they ban billboards. In America? They pass laws to chop down trees that might block their view. In Florida, they passed a law in 2006 that gave billboards guaranteed views. One Osceola, Florida legislator said "Those billboards are important, they feed lots of families,This is a tourism corridor. Tourism depends on billboards, not on trees."
After: Evil Trees removed in accordance with Florida law
Billboard King Clear Channel backs him up, arguing in favor of chopping down some trees in Osceola County: "The billboards were there first, and the trees started popping up, and they were done so in a way that they would block the view of the billboard," said Craig Swygert of Orlando's Clear Channel office. "It's like, 'Hey, we're going to give you a permit to be in business, but then we're going to take it away after you've already invested all this money.'"
He won, and sixteen trees were cut down. To preserve views to billboards.
It is happening all over, too. According to NPR, "The issue of billboard companies seeking to cut down public trees is something that's happening all over the country," says Bill Jonson, who serves on the board of the advocacy group Scenic America.
Jonson calls this industry lobbying effort inappropriate — "because they're public trees" — but it has been effective. Several states now have laws that give billboards precedence over beautification projects, and those laws often leave local communities powerless to save their trees. ::NPR via Planetizen
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This shows something is wrong with the billboards, not the trees. We live in a consumer culture, and it's not going away quickly, so I know we aren't going to lose them in America anytime soon. However, couldn't they design taller billboards or come up with a different design?
I believe the root of the problem is free speech (billboards) versus public property (trees). Allow our government to ban billboards and you're opening up a floodgate of opportunities for government to ban other forms of speech.
As far as I'm aware, there is no easy solution for billboards. You could require that they be installed in an area set back from vegetation, and Clear Channel and the like would respond by clearing a site of every iota of vegetation, and then plug a billboard in the middle of it. You could propose height restrictions for signs and other stuff built just beyond the highway ROW, but who am I kidding, the lobbyists would shoot that right down.
THE BILLBOARDS WERE THERE FIRST!
HA!
That's good stuff there! Comedy gold :p
There is always a fine line between what s best for business and what is best for the enviroment.
What was first definately needs to be considered before the other takes place(ie, trees before business or business before trees). The comment from Clear Channel is on point. You open a business and years later someone places privacy fences so your business is not seen from the road. Your not going to get many customers.
There has to be some regulation as to the hight of these billboards and trees in sight line. There are called dwarf trees and also there other beautification plants, brushes and trees that will work.
We all need to work together, government, business and enviromentalist. We only have one world and we ALL need to respect that.
This is why I never visit Florida. Who wants to see a bunch of billboards?
I live in Florida and that makes me want to barf!!! I understand the problem, but if we are going to make laws that allow us to cut down trees, we also need to have laws in place to replace those trees.
In Vermont billboards have been outlawed for decades. The trees win here!
Reminds me of San Jose, California where a tree has to be cut if it grows tall enough to obscure solar panels, even if the tree was there first.
"Tourism depends on billboards, not on trees."
Yeah--I always look in guidebooks and select locations with lots of billboards for my vacation destinations.
Wow, thats pretty pathetic isnt it?
Jiff
www.privacy.cz.tc
In all honesty it's not really safe to have trees on the side of the road anyways. I have lived in Florida all my life and all those pretty trees ever did was kill people. Seriously... Kill people. That being said I still hate billboards.
I am an upset voter
"Only In America: Billboards Have Rights, Trees Don't"
----------------------
Hmm....I guess if the government decides to grant rights to plants and trees, then the vegetarians out there are going to be in real trouble.
I'm happy to be in Alaska, one of the few US states that has a billboard ban in place. I wish that this idea would spread to other states.
Other states that ban billboards: Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont.
evil, pure evil. in america, $ buys (and destroys) anything it wants. Want clean air? A decent neighborhood? Just respect life in a general way?
Be prepared to bribe your local official or you're outta luck
Recyclican - Vermont has banned billboards for decades, and I can tell you first-hand, folks there don't feel at all like the government is shushing them by keeping the state's highway views green and pristine. And Vermont's tourism industry could hardly be deemed unhealthy.
Make a taller billboards, but leave the trees alone.
Read your history rubes, George Washington and Jefferson tried to set this country up, so that corporations would be limited. Abe Lincoln came along and reversed that, giving corporations more rights than citizens. Its been downhill ever since.
Revoke corporate charters!
I gotta say that billboards are the biggest eyesore in my TN town. I hate them.
Wish we could do away with them entirely and force businesses to install ground level signage.
Billboards and chessy signs really cheapen the way this place looks.
PLant more trees!!!
Don't worry - with big business (McDonalds, Walmart, ...) going green this issue will soon be a thing of the past. YEAH RIGHT.
Are the 2 pictures even of the same area? The perspective is different, the billboard is different and I can't find any reason to believe these picture were taken in the same place.
That's ridiculous! In some cities, they are outlawing billboards to reduce visual pollution, reduce driver distraction and make the city a more beautiful place to be in.
It's not enough that they have ads on TV, DVDs, in magazines, all over the internet, in stores, on apparel, on the radio, on bus stops, in the mail, in and on buses...
That grass is obstructing what could be great space for pavement advertising.
I think this is rediculous, clearly we are not thinking about the big picture here. Because the point is, trees are more important than a billboard telling us what to buy, trees give us oxigen. OXIGEN = AIR and AIR = LIFE. So really when all the trees are cut down and your lungs are caving in cause there's too much smog, at least you can look up at the billboards and say "wow I really want to buy from that store" because our government won't save the trees when it gets near their precious billbords.
If you don't read the signs, they will eventually become obsolete and the trees will keep on growing anyway.
"I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all."
-- Ogden Nash
I can't believe that in this day and age the trees would be allowed to be chopped down. I live in Canada, the city I live in has a tree ordinance. You can be fined thousands to tens of thousands of dollars for cutting down trees.
We are so desensatized to advertising these days anyway, that companies are coming up with more and more innovative and unique ways of advertising. Many that are kinder to the environment. I would definitely not be sad to see billboards go. They are a waste of paper and ink, they mar a beautiful skyline with their images and metal structures.
I recently visited Toronto, Ontario. Companies there sponsor care of part of the highway. They get their logo done on the grassy hill along the road. In a combination of grass and whiterock. It is really bold and eyecatching, and right at street level. No trees or any other shrubs are in danger with this type of advertising. Everyone should try it!
I live in Orlando and there is a Billboard in Winter Park, FL that is currently being blocked by trees. The city said the tree had to stay and the billboards are pretty much worthless now.
I just provide that as a counter-example.
Generally, shouldn't this be worked out by the owners of the property? Won't the market take care of this somehow if we allow it?
I live in Los Angeles County and I'm happy to say that my city is pro tree and parks and anti-billboards and drive thru restaurants. It's a fairly small city, but I can tell you my city looks wonderful compared to the adjoining city which is basically a concrete block with few billboards sicking out of it.
In Buenos Aires, the ban of the billboards has nothing to do with the trees. The government ban the billboards they don't want, just to put the billboards of their friends. The laws in the US may be against trees, but here in Buenos Aires, the laws are against people.