Billboards

FOR A COMPANY that makes its living in the public eye, Boisclair Advertising seems to know astonishingly little about the closely related field of public relations.You know Boisclair Advertising. It's the outdoor advertising firm that has been waging a very public battle with the Schmoke administration over the placement -- and content -- some of some of its billboards in Baltimore. The company, it seems, has found it profitable to place high concentrations of billboards advertising cigarettes and liquor in the midst of some of the city's most drug-ridden, poverty-stricken neighborhoods, many of them black.

Area billboard companies are speaking out against a proposed tax introduced this week by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. In a hearing before the City Council's taxation committee Thursday, the global billboard firm Clear Channel Outdoor offered to give the city more than $1 million in free advertising if the administration would drop plans for a tax on billboards. If not, the company's local general manager said, the city could face a lawsuit. "Will this legislation stand up to a legal challenge [that could]

Amid all the glitzy advertisements vying to capture the motoring public's attention in the Baltimore area, the students who designed five billboards promoting tolerance hope their messages stand out. Students at Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts in Dundalk worked with graphic designers last fall on Design Ignites Change, a nationwide initiative to place student images and messages on billboards. The young artists created slogans, logos and drawings for the project. Five designs from Patapsco students were eventually made into billboards that went up this month in and around Baltimore.

Bravo! With her latest proposals ("Mayor to propose new taxes on billboards, taxi rides," April 22) Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has joined with our governor in his tax policies. If it moves, tax it (taxis). If it stands still, tax it (billboards). Theodore W. Hirsh, Baltimore Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

For years, Baltimore community groups have waged an uphil campaign against the companies that blight neighborhood billboards and walls with glossy advertisements for alcohol and cigarettes.The ads invariably portray smiling, successful people in situations calculated to evoke the good life. What the ads never show are the wasted lives, broken families and shattered futures that too often are the bitter result of chronic alcohol abuse, or the illness caused by tobacco.Baltimore has made significant progress combating such propaganda.

One battle is almost concluded in the fierce war over hundreds of illegal billboards that had been allowed to stand unchallenged in neighborhoods throughout Baltimore City for years.Under an order by Judge Joseph H. H. Kaplan, tomorrow is the deadline for those hundreds of billboards to come down. One company, Boisclair Advertising/Chesapeake Outdoor Enterprises, tried to get belated permits for 84 of its smaller billboards last week, but the zoning board rejected every one of its applications.

We all know how passionate Sen. Barbara Mikulski can be when, compelled by principle or provoked by outrage, she stands to speak. Be it on the floor of the U.S. Senate or on the stage at the Steelworkers Hall, Mikulski is always energetic, spirited, even eloquent. Her soliloquy on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court was impassioned and inspiring.Mikulski speaks frequently and loudly -- and almost always wisely -- on some of the most important issues that affect the lives of ordinary Americans.

THERE are about 953 billboards in Baltimore City, of which 45 percent advertise alcohol and tobacco products.These billboards are located next to schools, beside churches, in front of homes, on highways and along scenic city vistas. They are 24-hour-a-day advertisements that constantly barrage children with messages about how to be successful in today's world. These billboards cannot be turned off or thrown away, like television or newspapers, and parents cannot protect their children from their deadly messages.

One of the big surprises during this year's General Assembly session was the passage of a bill that set the stage for a strict limit on billboards advertising alcohol in Baltimore City. Well-financed beverage lobbyists were defeated by activists from some of the city's poorest neighborhoods.Emboldened by its victory, the City Wide Liquor Coalition for Better Laws and Regulation is pressing on. This fall saw the introduction of a City Council ordinance that would regulate in detail what kind of outdoor advertising of tobacco and alcohol products is permitted in Baltimore.

A court ruling to remove billboards from certain neighborhoods in Baltimore appears to reflect most people's opinions about the signs, especially those advertising alcohol and tobacco, according to Evening Sun readers and other callers to SUNDIAL.Of 377 respondents, 230 said alcohol and tobacco should not be advertised on billboards, while 147 said it was OK to advertise alcohol and tobacco on billboards.Of 363 callers, 235 said alcohol and tobacco ads should be banned from billboards in residential neighborhoods, while 128 said the signs should not be banned from residential neighborhoods.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is expected to introduce legislation Monday that would give the city authority to levy two new taxes. One bill would authorize a tax of about 25 cents per taxi trip. Another would impose a tax on billboard advertisements within the city limits - $15 per square foot for billboards that electronically change images, and $5 per square foot for those that don't. A third measure would keep the tax on parking at its current rate of 20 percent, instead of decreasing it to 19 percent, as had been planned.

Sound Garden, the Fells Point staple and all-around awesome record store, has received another national accolade. In its latest issue, Billboard magazine named the Baltimore shop one of the top 13 independent record stores in the country. Here's what writer Hilary Hughes wrote about Sound Garden: Five thousand people rifle through the shelves and stacks of the Sound Garden on an average day. That number doubles on Record Store Day, and owner Bryan Burkert and his staff work a 14-hour stretch to ensure the in-stores go smoothly - this year, Baltimore's Clutch will be performing - and get patrons the limited pressings they need.

Edwin F. Hale Sr., the Baltimore developer and former CEO of First Mariner Bancorp, filed a $5 million lawsuit Monday against the operators of 1st Mariner Arena , alleging they are improperly using billboards that belong to him. Filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, Hale's suit names as defendants arena operator SMG Holdings of West Conshohocken, Pa., and the advertising firm that replaced him at the arena, Legends Sales and Marketing of...

Curious billboards have popped up around Baltimore recently: "Hiring again? Share the good news. " The nine billboards — posted in prominent locations such as the intersection of Falls Road and West Cold Spring Lane— do not give any clues as to their real agenda. The ads simply direct employers to a website, which explains that to improve child support collections a state law requires them to report new workers within 20 days of their hiring or face a fine. The giant displays are among the aggressive tactics the state Department of Human Resources is deploying after a blistering audit last year found that the agency failed to use all available resources to collect the payments, most often on behalf of mothers.

Since last November, Baltimore MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blakehas been trying to raise $11 million in new revenue for her Better Schools Initiative by continuing the city's existing bottle tax, increasing that tax by 150 percent, and contributing 10 percent of the projected revenue from the proposed downtown casino. In an editorial this week, the Baltimore Sun intimates that the City Council should accept this proposal, since "no viable alternative has emerged. " I beg to differ. One viable alternative, proposed months ago, would be to use a substantially larger percentage of the projected casino revenue.

Who knew rocker Tommy Lee was such a softie? The creators of Baltimore's Show Your Soft Side campaign, apparently, since they convinced the founding member of Motley Crue to join their movement pushing for the humane treatment of animals. Lee's ad was just unveiled. It shows the drummer, with a tattoo of lipsticked lips visible on his neck, leaning in to plant a wet one in the same spot on a small, honey-colored pup. The copy with it reads, "This bad boy has added a new four-letter word to his vocabulary.

Godlessness is inching up the Interstate. First it appeared in Washington. Now it's totally in Baltimore. Want proof? How about the five big billboards that have popped up in the city trumpeting: Celebrate Living Without God! Here is where you'll see the billboards: -- West side of I-95, a mile north of the Ft. McHenryTunnel, facing south -- East side of Hanover St., just north of the Hanover St. Bridge, facing south -- West side of I-83, 2500 ft. south of Cold Spring Lane, facing south -- East side of I-95, 2500 ft. south of Russell St., facing north-- East side of Russell St., just south of Ostend St., facing north They come from a group called the Baltimore Coalition of Reason and aim to promote a Washington event called Reason Rally.

How did Mac Miller do it? It seems improbable, but the party-all-the-time Jewish rapper from Pittsburgh found himself at the top of the Billboard 200 on Nov. 16, without a radio hit, and more important, without a major-label machine there to take the credit. Miller, 19, sold 144,000 copies of his debut album, "Blue Slide Park," making him the first independent artist to claim the top spot since 1995. He's not a protege of a superstar, nor have any of "Blue Slide Park's" songs charted.