A side story to the now overturned Cincinnati billboard tax was the tax’s draconian enforcement provisions: The billboard tax was imposed on an “advertising host” which was defined to mean “any person who owns or controls an outdoor advertising sign, including the persons agent, affiliate, employee or other representative who […]
California already has restrictions on Marijuana advertising but they aren’t good enough for San Diego. Los Angeles Times reports that San Diego city councilman Chris Cate has proposed legislation to: Prohibit marijuana billboard ads within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, youth oriented facilities, rec centers, libraries, churches and residential care […]
By Richard Rothfelder, Rothfelder and Falick Since when can a local government pass a huge new tax and then forbid you from talking about it? That’s what Cincinnati tried to do to Lamar Advertising and Norton Outdoor. Judge Curt C Hartman would have none of it in yesterday’s ruling striking […]
CINCINNATI, OH (October 17) – Court of Common Pleas Judge Curt C. Hartman today invalidated Cincinnati’s new excise tax on billboards as a burden on speech protected by the First Amendment. “Government may not single out and direct or target a tax solely at the exercise of First Amendment rights […]
Don’t be shy about asserting your rights if a zoning or planning board doesn’t follow the rules. That’s the lesson of Borough of Castle Shannon vs Steel City Billboards. Insider talked with Steel City Billboards owner Mitchell Fowkes. What was the dispute? Steel City Billboards went to Castle Shannon Borough to […]
The Boston Globe reports that Tom Sullivan (Lumber Liquidators and Cabinents to Go) and RJ Valentine (MBA Umbrella group) are fighting over the right to install a digital billboard on I-93 in Braintree, Massachusetts. There’s a 1,000 foot setback between digital billboards in Boston so there will only be one […]
Alaska’s Outdoor Advertising Law, was passed by citizen initiative in the 1990s. That law is very broad, and prohibits the public from: (1) placing signage within a right-of-way, and (2) placing signage on private property within 660 feet of the right-of-way if the sign is viewable from the roadway. Because […]
Cincinnati’s City Council voted to repeal its recent, significant increase in billboard fees. The unanimous vote to scrap the fee increase occurred October 10 in open session of the council that was live-streamed on the city’s website. Norton Outdoor and Lamar Advertising had challenged the fee increase in court, along […]
The feds and New York State announced resolution on September 28 to a long-running dispute over tourism-promotion signs on the right of way deemed illegal by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Neither side offered much detail about the agreement, other than FHWA would rescind its $14 million penalty against the […]
By Jennifer Sloane, Esq. As an attorney for the OOH industry, I love to see comments by local governmental officials such as those pointed out in the article New Digital Signs Headed For San Jose, CA. In that article, the city councilperson stated, in summary, that they wanted to allow […]
