Joyce Feld of Scenic Knoxville is urging her members to quickly contact legislators, since the House vote on legislation to allow electronic billboards statewide is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 24.
“The industry’s lobbyist is finally admitting that their intention is to be able to convert any currently legal billboard to digital technology without local approval,” Feld wrote. “It’s still unclear if they will be able to do this in municipalities under home rule. Most legislators, misled by the industry, believe the bill is simply defining what an allowable upgrade is.
“At over 10,000 billboards, Tennessee ranks 7th in the nation in the number of billboards. That’s a whole lot of potential ugly, distracting light pollution. Learn about Scenic Knoxville here. Catch the latest from Scenic Knoxville here.
Here’s the 1932 poem by Ogden Nash published in The New Yorker:
I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I’ll never see a tree at all.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today.