Insider likes to know what the opposition is up to.  On May 23, 2016 Scenic America adopted a three year strategic plan which has been posted on the Scenic America website.    Insider notes four things about the plan:

• Scenic America has  a very small staff.  The executive director position is part-time assisted by one full time communications director.  None of the staff are in DC and there are no current plans to add DC staff.

• Scenic is decentralized and works through 47 affiliates at the state, county and city level.

• A major emphasis for scenic is undergrounding powerlines.

• Scenic’s out of home advertising goals are focused on amortization and an effort to limit vegetation control.  Here’s the relevant passage on the plan:

We will work to change federal and state laws so that billboards are limited to commercial areas; so that amortization is a legal option for the purchase of billboards; and so that public trees and landscaping cannot be removed for the purpose of increasing billboard visibility beginning in 2016 and ongoing through:

a. Creating a Scenic America board committee and recruiting new board members who are currently or formerly associated with the Federal Highway Administration, destination marketing groups, American Society of Landscape Architects, Garden Club of America, and Scenic America affiliates

b. Developing a system for representing Scenic America interests regarding Promoting Beautiful Highways in the Congress

c. Getting affiliates to become familiar with their Congressional Representatives and Senators and having them ready to contact their representatives in a timely way when Congressional action is pending.

Insider’s take:  Scenic America seems to be focused on encouraging communities to use amortization (requiring removal of billboards after an arbitrary period of time without compensation).  Insider will discuss why amortization is unfair and contrary to law in a series of future posts.

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