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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Flashing billboards' days numbered?
Mary Tracy

Don’t get Mary Tracy started about those newfangled electronic billboards cropping up on the nation’s highways – that is, unless you have the time to talk.

The anti-billboard activist and founder of Philadelphia-based SCRUB - which bills itself as “the Public Voice for Public Space” – sees the flashing billboards as a bane for distracted drivers and the environment.

With the changing messages flashed every few seconds by these signs, drivers have been known to slow while waiting for the next image. That’s a life-threatening risk at interstate highway speeds, notes Tracy.

Then there’s the obvious drain and cost of the electricity used to power these signs 24/7. Tracy says it would require planting 4,000 trees to offset the carbon footprint of these signs, in addition to the added cost of operating them.

What’s the likelihood that the views of this local advocate will affect the national debate on the electronic billboards? Well, they just got better this week – with the announcement that Tracy has been elected president of Scenic America.

The national organization seeks to protect the nation’s highways from blight of all types, and lays claim to preventing “thousands of billboards from blighting our highways.”

Eric Elliff, chairman of Scenic America's Board of Directors, said Tracy’s ”extensive background in grassroots organizing and non-profit management” gave her an edge in landing the job.

The fight against billboard blight in Philadelphia hasn’t been easy, and there have been setbacks as well as victories for Tracy’s group. So Scenic America’s anti-blight efforts should benefit from Tracy’s neighborhood-honed skills as an advocate.
 
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