MIAMI – Downtown Miami residents are not happy about the bright lights that could soon go up in their area.
They hoped Thursday commissioners voted against what some are calling “visual pollution.”
One of the billboards is already up.
Concerned residents brought visuals to Thursday’s commission meeting.
“I want to let you know how upset people are about these signs,” resident Christine Browde said.
A petition cites “visual discomfort, sleep disorder, and deprivation,” and fears of what an oversized LED billboard at the Perez Art Museum Miami would bring.
Resident Jeff King calls it “a Trojan horse for endless advertising.”
It was spearheaded by former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who was suspended last year after a corruption-related arrest.
“This is just another money-motivated manipulation at Miami City Hall,” resident Elvis Cruz said.
Residents mapped the political contributions from the Ohio-based billboard company that has promised the art museum millions in revenue from it.
Mark Rosenblum, the chief executive officer of PAMM, called it “a time not just to support the arts, but to amplify.”
That is the strong argument from those here who support the bright billboards, who also point to the Kaseya Center, billboards on Biscayne Boulevard, and giant murals draped on downtown buildings now.
“Again and again, there is no place for billboards in a park,” District 4 Commissioner Manolo Reyes said.
District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo is also against the proposal.
Commission Chair Christine King suggested a compromise, limiting hours and brightness, among other things, which has support.
“Once you give people a permit, a right to build, after they build you can’t just come and say, ‘Uh, I’m sorry, we’re going to take that away from you.’ They have rights,” District 3 Commissioner Joe Carollo said.
The compromise appeared to have legs, and commissioners voted 4-1 on the plan to limit hours and brightness.
Commissioners will ask the courts for help in phasing it out.
They were afraid a vote to outright eliminate the billboard could open the city to liability from the company that built it.