In the continuing battle over public space – Conneticut’s governor Jodi Rell has begun curtailing billboards in her state. Her executive order “halts any new contracts to build or maintain “outdoor advertising structures, devices or displays” located on state property.” The billboard industry is aghast arguing that the state will lose so much revenue from the billboards.
I am continually amazed at how little billboard companies pay for the right to alter our visual landscape. In Conneticut the state only “receives $80,000 a year in annual permit fees from (all) roadside billboards. The fee is $20, $40 or $60 a year, depending on the size of the billboard.”
$60 a year – there ought to be a law.
