The Billboard Mafia II

CBS Outdoor earned $2.17 billion in 2008.
One of their Billboards in California
Let's ban Billboard Blight

When people tell me that if I don’t like what an elected official does then vote him out of office. Nothing is that easy or that simple. Elected officials can do a hell of a lot of damage in a very short time. Just take Lake Worth as an example.

Originally the Billboard Mafia had requested 9 signs be installed along I-95 and the City denied them. It was against our Code. That’s when Interstate Outdoor Advertising threatened to sue and presented a “settlement agreement” to Larry Karns, then city attorney to the City of Lake Worth. Larry Karns said that he thought that the City could win this suit but……….if we accepted the settlement it would mean revenue to Lake Worth. We settled before a suit was filed. It was game playing by slick lawyers and a company that had done it many times before, just a component of its Business Plan.

Just the sound of $ rang in the Mayor’s ears. He didn’t care that it would be the worst blight imaginable making Lady Bird Johnson turn over in her grave. On the table was an offer to take a lump sum of $2,655,000 or $2.31 million up front plus payments. Mayor Jeff Clemens supported the payments and the Interim City Manager, Bob Baldwin agreed.. They both persuaded the Commission to “settle” a law suit that wasn’t even a law suit--all for the almighty buck.

Pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Agreement, Interstate assigned its rights to three of the billboards to CBS Outdoor, Inc. We had some problem with CBS because they wanted a LED billboard, not in our Code either. We “settled” with them too. They got their digital sign that glows all night long and we just received their check dated February 24, 2010 for $1,240,000.

I do not know if Interstate has ever paid us. We got strong-armed and the entire city government was weak kneed and submissive, putting aside their integrity for the worship of greenbacks. Voting for this was Clemens, Lowe and Vespo, supported by the former City Manager and City Attorney. Two lone commissioners, Jennings and Golden, voted NAY. They voted right.

Right now $150,000 of the money needs to be re-directed to our pool repairs. Let’s do some immediate good with it as we all will suffer billboard blight for the next 20 years.