Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 20, 1991 TAG: 9103200418
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BENJAMIN G. ANDERSON JR.
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The companion bills prohibit new billboards on federal primary and interstate highways. This eventually would destroy the billboard industry through gradual loss of existing structures. Supporters of these bills want to eliminate this traditional medium of communication that has served businesses and the public since the Revolutionary War.
The Chaffee/Lewis bills repeal the mandatory compensation provisions that have been part of the Highway Beautification Act since its original passage in 1965. This would leave billboard owners and landowners subject to different treatment in 50 state legislatures and court systems, to say nothing of thousands of municipalities and counties. Since Congress has always affirmed the right to payment for sign owners and landowners, this change might be viewed as encouragement to states and localities to try amortization or other methods to remove lawful billboards without paying for them. Sign owners would face losses and/or legislative and court battles all over the country to obtain what every American takes for granted: the right to keep and use his property, unless it's taken for a public purpose and paid for by the government.
The Chaffee/Lewis bills imply that billboards are bad and that current laws regulating billboards are inadequate. They ignore limitations placed on billboard locations by federal, state and local laws for the past 25 years. They ignore the impact on the traveling public, that could be deprived of information if this form of advertising is destroyed, and on local, regional and national businesses that rely on billboards. They ignore the contributions that more than 100,000 people in the industry make to the commerce and character of this country.
by CNB