City and County of San Francisco
Paid Arguments
E
Shall the City prohibit an increase in the number of general advertising signs on street furniture and specifically prohibit new general advertising signs on City-owned buildings?
Vote YES on Prop E: “Stop New Billboards on Public Property”
Proposition E would prevent “ad creep” from appearing on more of our civic assets.
Commercial advertising on public property contributes a minuscule sum to the City Hall budget, but it comes at a high cost. It detracts from San Francisco’s attractiveness to tourists and from the pleasant surroundings for our residents.
Voters, on two prior occasions, have decisively voted against new commercial advertising in the City, yet ads on public property still proliferate. Prop E, however, guarantees to hold the line against new advertising in the public right-of-way.
Prop E strikes a fair balance by preserving current ad space on public property - thus allowing the City to continue receiving those annual revenues. Yet it effectively stops City Hall from selling additional spaces to the billboard industry.
Passage of Prop E also limits the risk of more intrusive forms of advertising in the public-right-of-way. This would include blinking, digital billboards now contemplated for neighborhoods throughout the City and on Muni vehicles.
In 2007, 62% of voters had approved a non-binding resolution that called for no new advertising in the public right-of-way. In this election, Prop E would finally give previous voter intent the force of law.
Millions of visitors the world over highly cherish San Francisco for its unique character and beauty. This, and not commercialism, is the goose that lays the golden eggs, even in challenging times.
Preserve the unique character of San Francisco! Vote YES on Prop E!
San Francisco Beautiful
www.sfbeautiful.org/billboards
VOTE NO ON “E”. Don’t cut money that flows to MUNI and sidewalk improvements. Proposition E stops the city from expanding our news rack and bus shelter programs and may prevent a bike sharing program. Do not cut off important revenue sources, especially during tough financial times. Vote NO on “E”- it is fiscally irresponsible.
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
The true source of funds for the printing fee of this argument is the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
Prop E will deny The City of San Francisco the ability to generate revenue from new advertisements on any of its properties under any circumstances. New ads should be regulated judiciously on an individual basis without resorting to a total ban. VOTE NO ON PROP E!
Citizens for a Better San Francisco
(for more information visit www.CBSF.net)
The true source of funds for the printing fee of this argument is Citizens for a Better San Francisco.
The two contributors to the true source recipient committee are Edward Poole and Michael Antonini.
Arguments printed on this page are the opinion of the authors and have not been checked for accuracy by any official agency. Arguments are printed as submitted. Spelling and grammatical errors have not been corrected.