August 9, 2010 - Are big billboards coming to Seattle skyscrapers? If the City of Seattle has its way, it could be a reality.
The City of Seattle is considering a change to the current sign code to allow big, bright billboards on the city's skyscrapers.
Those allowed to put up the large signs would be big companies leasing at least 200,000 square feet. They would be allowed to put the signs up on all four sides of the building.
The idea, Bryan Stevens with the city's Department of Planning and Development, is "to retain and attract our large-scale business owners and tenants."
Stevens said that at the end of last year they had a 20 percent vacancy rate at their downtown office buildings.
KING 5’s Linda Brill said a corporate lawyer brought the idea to the city saying big billboards will attract big business.
The signs could be 350 square feet, the size of two parking spaces end-to-end.
Under the proposal only six current companies would qualify to brand their names on skyscrapers.
This won't go down without a fight from Seattle residents who say the proposal would take Seattle's clean, pristine skyline and brand it with billboards lit up with corporate names.
"It's a skyline that's collectively owned by all of us and suddenly it becomes privately marked." says architect, author and urban planner Mark Hinshaw.
A legal challenge has already been filed by activists who say the billboard proposal would adversely impact the environment.
The question is before a Seattle hearing examiner.
Source:
NWCN
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