From Sunday’s AANews, “Billboard could bring money to city Council votes to lease space for 60-foot-tall digital sign at Huron exit.” From the story:
The Ypsilanti City Council voted July 15 to lease space to Adams Outdoor Advertising for a 60-foot-tall digital billboard at the Huron Street exit ramp off westbound I-94.
Adams wants to replace the existing sign at no cost to the city – an investment of more than $1 million, the company says. The city would get $35,000 in rent, about $5,000 in taxes and promotional-message time on the billboard.
The sign is currently owned by EMU, which is the connection here.
First off, I remember there being some debate about this topic last year on EMUTalk.org, but I can’t find where/when it was. Maybe I’m misremembering.
But second, the money doesn’t seem to add up to me. I have no idea what it costs to rent a billboard, but considering the prominent location of the current sign/future giant digital billboard, it seems like $35K a year is kind of on the low-end. And what is EMU getting out of this? Granted, the current sign isn’t much in the way of an advertisement, but will this billboard feature EMU ads in the mix of beer and soft drink ads?
There was in fact a GREAT deal of discussion on this topic last Summer. I didn’t say anything because I know nothing. Not my knowledge area here.
For a very good discussion of the EMU/Ypsi billboard issue, go to the wonderfully informative blog of Brian Robb, the east side Ypsilanti city council member, at http://www.east-cross.com. The entry on “Environmental Irony and Ypsilanti” lays it all out, in horrid detail.
EMU owns nothing on the site the old billboard stands except the billboard, which will be torn down and replaced with the modern, fuel consuming electronic type. The city owns the land.
The discussion of which Mark speaks is specifically located here.
The environmental issues concern me some, but to be honest, I personally think that Ypsi didn’t get enough for its money. But this is mostly gut reaction; I don’t know a whole of the details one way or the other.