In a controversial transfer a long time within the making, San Jose metropolis leaders have unanimously greenlit a proposal so as to add digital boards at 4 downtown city-owned properties, angering scores of residents who questioned their rationale and the long-term ramifications.
Columbus-headquartered Orange Barrel Media will lease billboards on the Heart for the Performing Arts, McEnery Conference Heart and on the Market/San Pedro Avenue and Second and San Carlos Avenue parking garages for probably as much as 20 years, offering town with a assured minimal of simply over $21 million whole for that interval.
Together with the financial advantages, elected officers championed the proposal in hopes that it’ll add vibrancy to San Jose’s downtown as town approaches a crucial juncture with main sporting occasions just like the Tremendous Bowl, FIFA World Cup and NCAA Males’s Basketball Match video games coming to Silicon Valley in 2026.
“This proposal is not a blanket endorsement of billboards citywide,” Vice Mayor Pam Foley mentioned. “We are talking about specific billboards strategically placed on certain parts of downtown, on city-owned property that will add to the character of our downtown. Additionally, these billboards are not just standard billboards on sticks, but are designed to be unique, iconic and identifiable.”
The subject has lengthy been a sore topic in San Jose, with town even banning billboards almost 4 a long time in the past. However the metropolis’s official stance started to thaw as lobbying efforts from billboard corporations started to ramp up greater than a decade in the past.
In 2015, town formally started to take a look at potential proposals after elected leaders and Chamber of Commerce officers visited Denver as a part of a examine mission to see the way it used digital billboards to generate extra income and improve vibrancy.
Since then, town has authorized different proposals, together with two digital billboards a number of years in the past, regardless of a survey exhibiting that residents overwhelmingly opposed them.
Orange Barrel Media will place a digital signal at all the websites, aside from the Heart of Performing Arts, which can show two. The settlement incorporates an preliminary 10-year time period with two five-year extension choices.
Kevin Ice, director of actual property, mentioned that town will obtain 33% of the gross income generated as a part of the deal, which additionally features a assured minimal of $21 million. Income projections shared with town foresee San Jose receiving nearer to $37.5 million over 20 years.
“Downtown San Jose is at a pivotal moment as we work towards revitalizing our core,” San Jose Downtown Affiliation CEO Alex Stettinski mentioned. “We must embrace opportunities that enhance the pedestrian experience, attract visitors and generate revenue for the city at the same time.”
The contract stipulates that town will obtain 15% of promoting time free of charge along with all unsold allotments, which may add a further 10-35% of the time. The settlement additionally prohibits illumination between midnight and 6 a.m., and Orange Barrel Media could be required to pay for all utilities.
The ads are also topic to content material restrictions, together with no profanity, violence, firearms or materials antagonistic to town’s industrial pursuits.
Metropolis leaders have additionally stipulated that the billboards use 100% renewable power supplied by San Jose Clear Power.
Blage Zelalich, deputy director of financial improvement, mentioned Orange Barrel Media intends to submit development paperwork for the primary indicators on the Heart for Performing Arts within the spring with the objective of getting them operational between September and November of this yr.
Nonetheless, a big portion of residents have known as town’s rationale bogus, warning that elected officers have taken a myopic view on the topic that might change the character of San Jose.
Dr. Paul Lynam, an astronomer on the Lick Observatory, mentioned town’s environmental influence contained flawed evaluation and that the sunshine air pollution from the billboards would end in “a tidal wave of public health problems.”
Les Levitt, a downtown resident and member of the No Digital Billboards in San Jose steering committee, mentioned that town’s ban on billboards was constructed on the premise of environmental stewardship and financial improvement.
However by giving in to particular pursuits, Levitt warned that permitting billboards would “open up the floodgates.”
“Federal law says the city cannot have an exclusive right to go into the billboard business but prevent the same activity on private property,” he mentioned.
Connelee Shaw, the previous government director of the Japantown Enterprise Affiliation and District 3 resident for 53 years, questioned the id elected officers are forging for San Jose.
“These billboards bring us closer to Las Vegas, Times Square, and in more recent times, as you saw, Denver and Columbus,” Shaw mentioned. “Bigger and brighter is not always better.”
