Vulgar billboards won't revitalize San Jose, says downtown leader
Jubilee! sign at Bally's, Las Vegas. Image by Christian Haugen
Downtown SJ has gone through its ups and downs over the decades. But most recently, the developments that have delivered the best business—and community—benefits have not been big, disruptive ideas. Former D3 Council candidate, and current head of the local Independent Leadership Group and United Housing Alliance, Irene Smith takes a look at the latest bright, shiny idea for downtown—electronic billboards—and finds that they're not right for San Jose. From Medium.
The latest Bad Idea making the rounds includes a vision of downtown that looks more like Vegas than NYC. But San Jose is neither. This is an idea that imitates, and doesn’t have local individuality and creativity. I am talking about massive electronic billboards planned for numerous locations in downtown San Jose.
These e-billboards will display 80% commercial advertising, and the Office of Economic Development is driving the e-billboards proposals. Recently I went on a tour of the 13 proposed e-billboard sites, here’s what I saw:
Tech Museum
One large e-billboard (25 feet wide by 30 feet tall; 750 square feet). To understand the impact of these e-boards, reference the average public school bus, which is about 35 feet long.
McEnery Convention Center
Four e-billboards (30 feet wide by 40 feet tall; 50 feet wide by 24 feet tall; 43 feet wide by 24 feet tall; and 43 feet wide by 24 feet tall; 4,464 square feet). To understand the impact of these four e-boards, take four letters from the Hollywood sign in LA; each letter is a little over 45 feet.
Center of Performing Arts
Two curved e-billboards on two separate street corners (both are 60 feet wide by 15 feet tall; 1,800 square feet). To understand the impact of these two e-boards, compare them to two semi-trucks; on average, semi-trucks are each 72 feet long and 13.5 feet tall.
3Below Theaters
Three e-billboards (32 feet wide by 38 feet tall; no dimensions yet for the other two; assume 3,646 square feet). For reference, telephone poles are generally 30 feet tall.
Market & San Pedro Square Garage
Three e-billboards (54 feet wide by 20 feet tall; 18 feet wide by 36 feet tall; no dimension for the other yet; assume 2,376 square feet). A basketball court is 50 feet wide.
Square Footage
Assuming the undisclosed dimensions are the same as their companion e-billboards, we would have: one public school bus, four Hollywood letters, two semi-trucks, three telephone poles, three basketball courts — all flashing and selling in neon, all day and all night. A total of 13,036 square feet of glitz and marketing with no defined financial outcome for the residents of downtown. That’s about four and a half tennis courts’ worth of disturbance.
Any Revenue?
The first question you should ask as San Jose considers taking on this electrically expensive endeavor is “how much will San Jose get for these e-billboards?” And the strange answer is that no one knows.
You might also ask, “How could this planning have gotten so far down the road based on the carrot that SJ will increase revenue, if no one has data on how much revenue these e-billboards would generate?” This is a Bad Idea without clearly defined economic benefit.
Ongoing Expenses
And looking at the expense side of the equation, San Jose residents will find themselves footing the bill for the electricity used by e-billboards. One e-billboard can consume a lot of energy — equivalent to what can power 11 single-family homes. Taxpayers will need to pay for more than 143 single-family homes’ power to operate these e-billboards.
Not Environmentally Friendly
San Jose is again pretending to be something it is not. It pretends to be environmentally conscious with unused bike lanes, recycling that goes directly into landfill, and gas-to-dirty-electric conversions. These e-billboards are bad for birds, create light pollution, and are allowed to remove trees that block their marketing messages. This Bad Idea is environmentally irresponsible, as well.
More mistakes?
Downtown San Jose cannot afford to make any more mistakes. Particularly, one that is financially costly without any defined revenue stream, which creates 13,036 square feet of distraction, and has a negative environmental impact has no place in downtown. 13 e-boards equivalent to about four and a half tennis courts’ size of constant marketing might be great for NYC and Vegas, but not for DTSJ.
This article originally appeared in Medium. Read the whole thing here.
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