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Oh Yeah, It’s the Signs

How do you help the economy in the Duke City? Apparently, by working to kill another growing industry. You probably have noticed there are more and more digital signs popping up all over the place. A handful were put up by outdoor industry giants, like ClearChannel. But of late, I’ve noticed more and more of these are being put up by individual businesses in an effort to attract customers and build their businesses.

Now, it appears the Albuquerque City Council has these and other businesses firmly in their sights:

Their measure would control how bright the signs can be, how rapidly they can change the images displayed and other matters. Electronic signs would be prohibited in residential and historic districts. Moving images would also be banned.


“We need some common-sense guidelines,” Lewis said.


The proposal comes after the city convened a task force to review electronic-sign regulations. Critics, especially neighborhood leaders, have said electronic signs are distracting and a safety hazard at busy intersections.

Ok, let’s be honest here. This has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with aesthetic preferences. You don’t like bright LED signs, great, just say so. But, don’t insult our intelligence and say this is a safety issue. What’s next, are you going to ban all of those high school kids from waving signs at busy intersections to distract you into getting your car clean. Or maybe, the arrow twirlers drawing you into a home development. Perhaps, we might ban the waving Statues of Liberty that pop up on street corners around tax time. How about the political sign waving supporters every Election Day? Maybe we should ban brightly colored wrapped vehicles from driving our streets?

Let’s get honest people. This has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with personal preference. You want to remove another tool from those businesses struggling to keep alive, or kill those businesses selling digital signs? Well, then just come out and say so. But, please don’t feed us another public safety line.