by Madeleine Mosher
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Baltimore City community associations succeeded in organizing citizens over the last few days to block a Baltimore City Council bill that would have permitted billboards in new places, including along interstates.
The Land Use Committee was scheduled on Wednesday to consider Bill 20-0570, which would have changed existing signage laws to allow advertising companies to install billboards along railroads or railroad facilities attached to them, mandating that they be visible from interstates. But since community organizations have opposed it, City Council President Brandon M. Scott, who introduced the bill, has tabled it.
The Baltimore Watchdog reached out to Scott’s office but did not receive a response.
Kate McComiskey, president of the Locust Point Civic Association, said people may move out of the city if they had to share their neighborhood with billboards.
“If the neighborhood is ruined by towering billboards,” she said, “they will leave and take their tax dollars with them.”
John Pare, president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association, said that though allowing Pacific Outdoor Advertising, the company supporting this bill, to install billboards could produce up to $500,000 yearly revenue for the city. But he said he didn’t think the cost to neighborhood aesthetics would be worth it.
Riverside Park, which Pare said anchors the neighborhood with its playgrounds and public pool, could have had to house billboards on its south side, changing residents’ experience of the park.
The association urged its residents to contact Scott and other council members to oppose the bill.
Doug Kaufman, former president of the Canton Community Association, explained that interstates lined with billboards would cause prospective tourists and businesses to view the city as less attractive and be less inclined to bring business to it.
Canton Community Association also asked residents to send letters of opposition to the Land Use Committee.
Kaufman said he is glad that Scott wants to bring revenue to the city and thinks there could be a compromise in the future.
“I think he’s gonna be a great mayor,” Kaufman said, “and I think his handling of this shows that.”