Comments about ‘Salt Lake City considers fewer billboards for more electronic ones’

Traveling through Utahs towns and spectacular countryside shows just how obtrusive the billboard industry has become. Something must change. Informational signs - yes, but not those ugly monsters that tarnish our byways. Coal mines aren't the only thing threatening Utah's natural beauty.

Much of Utah is so pretty,so beautiful.Then as you drive along parts of it are as ugly as LA in the 60s.Billboards arent the only blight,local citys have more signs than trees.I dont think the ugly signs are worth the extra money that they might generate.More trees and more Rockey Mountain beauty will set Utah apart from the big ugly cities and thus will bring more prosperity.

Get rid of all of them. Aren't we supposed to keep our eyes on the road?

Tacky trashy Billboards....

makes Utah look like as hick and 3rd world as Tiajuana Mexico or Mombai Indai.

Utah would be so much prettier, nicer, and more pleasant without ANY billboards. Next time you drive on I-15, take a moment to imagine the beautiful views without billboards.

It could be done!

If property rights are removed, then the owner must be compensated. Is Salt Lake budgeting for this? Probably not. Based on the article, they are not.

This city council is still missing the point of obliterating bill boards from the road sides. The most dangerous problem with bill boards are they distract drivers and block the view of road signs and traffic signs because of where they are placed, in the direct view of drivers prominent vision. Even blocks away from sign location.

We are not in the 1940's anymore where traffic was always light, city's small, and no TV's to carry advertising all day long. It's an industry that has become more of a hazard than and aid to motorist or business. Not all streets and freeways should look like we are driving the Las Vegas strip at 80 MPH.

It's time the city councils put safety ahead of a dead industry. I think removing bill boards is a matter of driver safety and driver attention that TV's confuse. And I'd bet there are plenty of unhappy campers staying in downtown hotels that have these blaring and flashing obscene signs keeping tourist awake all night long.

The property owners do have a right to their "air space" but a couple of wind generating propellers above the inversions would be less distracting and more useful.

All this trash talk about billboards. I'm none to fond of them in the city, but on the freeway I love them. It makes driving the same freeway, day after day and year after year, a little bit more interesting. I like electronic billboards even better because they are more modern and change more often. Technology is wonderful.

As for "natural view", even without the billboards you have the sprawl of the city and houses for the most part; even on the mountains. On looking out west you see the eyesore that is Bingham copper mine turning the mountain inside out. Besides, how many times can you look at the same mountains from the same terrible distance and angle that the freeways provide? Variety is the spice of life, and billboards offer that to the monotony that is most people's daily commute.

Some billboards are boring, but some can also be rather amusing. It is in the advertisers best interest to catch our attention and pique out interest; and looking at bill boards at least keep your eyes on the road, rather than on your cell phone or in the mirror as you put makeup on.

Lest we forget, billboard companies contribute heavily to our legislators. Don't expect significant reductions in billboards as a result. In fact, if SLC continues to push back against billboards, legislators will jump in to protect the industry.

Utah bill..... What you describe is exactly what happened here in North Carolina. My adopted home town passed a law banning new bill boards. The industry first sued, and lost, then had a state senator from the other side of the state try to pass a state law removing my home towns ability to govern bill boards.

He almost succeeded.

I am sure tha battle over Durham's bill board laws is still far from over.

Billboards are a private enterprise to purchased by private companies, erected on private property. As long as they do not block regulatory signs, leave them along. Just another example of government interfering with private business. Remember, no business, no tax revenue, more economic slowdown, just what we need.

This compromise to focus on improved, easier to read, and in some ways, more aesthetic, contemporary electronic signs on freeways and reducing the clutter of small residential signs seems like a big plus for road safety. The reason is that by reducing residential billboards, the more dangerous, unsecured roadways in residential areas where traffic is poorly regulated with all sorts of entrances, exits, and children going to school, public safety will be improved. Electronic signs by the freeways are a lot better than the more traditional signs and doesn't reflect the Capitol city's entrance into the 21st Century, increased tourism attraction, and looking towards the future as well focused on the more regulated roadways in our Capital city.

I can see several pine trees are grwing pretty fast in Fort Union and pretty soon this billboard going to be unoticeable. Billbaords should only be along major freeways outside the city limit. I get tired of litters along the highway and billboard are one of them.

I guess Salt Lake thinks there one of the 100 most populas cities in the country.. and they are not, so why such a big deal on this subject?

Billboards are ugly, hideous, eyesores. "Litter on sticks". If you don't think so, just compare the freeways where they are allowed to those where they aren't. There is no comparison! The I-15 corridor is horrible. But I-80 east of State Street and I-215 on the east and south sides is much better. There are very good reasons why billboards (and electric signs) are totally banned in many areas. Blight, blight, blight.......

These electronic billboards are terrible distractions to drivers. They blink, flash, roll, etc in bright neon colors to catch your attention.Driving should require your full attention not signs, cell phones and other distractions. There are so many billboards in Salt Lake now the mountains and skyline have vanished. Surely, these things could be regulated by towns along the Watsach Front.

What about the distraction electronic signs will cause for drivers?

Anyone who is so distracted by an electronic billboard that it would impair their driving probably shouldn't be driving in the first place. Do the stars in the sky distract you? The lights on your dashboard? The lights on an emergency vehicle?

All the arguments against electronic billboards are weak, regressive, childish, and anti-technological progress. I know change can be scary, but advertising and electronic signs belong in any modern city. If Utah is to become the major commercial and technological center that people claim it is then people need to get out of this podunk, backwoods, not-in-backyard mentality and embrace the new reality.

Welcome to the real world. We can't live in a little house on the prairie when it suits us, and still climb on the internet and read the news and post comments too.

Oh my gosh, @Charles, we're on the same side today.

@Mukkake: By your standards I'd say about 50% of drivers shouldn't be on the road.

Also, if you are looking at a billboard, your eyes are NOT on the road.