That billboard is awesome and this is terrible news.

Can we "Hayden Island WalMart" Clear Channel?

Jesus Christ. Time to do battle over another fucking sign? Already?

It's bad enough I had to stop listening to the radio. Now I have to stop commuting? Lame.

Fuck this!

Eh.

The first words to enter my head: paintball target.

It can only be converted if it's already an off-premise sign. If it's an on-premise sign, then it can't be used for anything but the businesses on the property, I believe.

A sign is gonna be a different sign? Oh, the humanity.

Then I'm going to have to stop serving that sign coffee.

I've been having a hard time lately rationalizing this type of sentiment to others.... but it's important for more than the aesthetic goddamnit!

You have to take a hard line stance on these kind of changes to our city scape. Go to any other large city in the US: they're saturated with marketing. I'd prefer it if our city keeps a low amount of billboards and other signage.

Also, it'd be nice if we banned the driving billboards. Those are ridiculous.

I like the old sign, too, and would much rather see it than another billboard.

But remember that building is someone's property. They're going to lease or sell the wall to Clear Channel, and get money in return. So another way of phrasing "Save the old sign!" would be "Let's seize some private property without paying for it!"

I like the old signs around town, but I like the idea of property rights more...

I always think it's ironic that those who say they're for "the little guy" are the same ones who want to ban billboards and limit opportunities for marketing. The biggest beneficiaries of such laws are the large and established corporations. The little guy suffers the most.

Take, for instance, a cafe or motel off the freeway not close enough for its on-premise signs to be seen -- you know, generally the little guy, as opposed to the Super 8s and Motel 6s of the world. How can he compete without billboards? Is he just supposed to hope that people take an exit and go looking for another motel? Will a traveler go looking for a great independent restaurant a mile off the road without something to induce them to, or will they just hit the drive-thru at McDonald's that they can see from the exit? Even with billboards it might be tough, but without them, they have no chance.

Also, billboards are some of the cheapest advertising you can get. It's a much better value for many businesses than radio, newspaper, or TV. You can get a billboard on the freeway for less that a 1/4 page ad in the Mercury every week -- and it's the cheapest of the big four newspapers in Portland.

Commerce, economic growth, job creation, etc, don't just magically happen. Even the Red & Black has signage.