Thursday, June 30, 2011

City of Miami Municipal Building is Draped with a Big Fat Ad. By Geniusofdespair

What a major embarrassment, draping a big sign advertising a TV show on a city building, Miami River Center (MRC). What does this say to the rest of the world? I think it says that Miami is a hokey city without pride. What would we all do if Washington D.C. started draping all our public buildings with ads? I guess Miamians would feel right at home!

53 comments:

Youbetcha' said...

I think it is pathetic to cover one of Miami's more attractive buildings with crap. If I were the building's designer I would pissed.

The metrorail trains are almost as bad. They are covered with ads and don't exactly look sleek, clean or modern with that garbage on them. So much for commissioner Moss' fascination with the cool futuristic train styles. I wonder who the advertiser thinks can read their ads with the trains flying past at 50 miles per hour?

You and I can not put up a banner or yard sign without violating some law some where, and these fools can clutter- up the view?

I think that it should be a goal to boycott companies that place ads that trash the public view. Thank you very much,
I don't need to read my city building. I read the newspaper, so advertisers can reach me that way.

The Straw Buyer said...

Think how many of those murals the city has to put up in order to be able to afford to pay a $400k bribe to the chief of police?

Anonymous said...

This ads have been going up and down for the past 4 years!

Anonymous said...

This has to be the work of millionaires who make over $250K annually (minus federal, state and local taxes) and fly corporate jets!

Anonymous said...

The mural ad on the side of the taxpayer owned City of Miami MRC building has been there for months. It is particulary ugly. It does send a signal to residents and tourists that Miami's elected officials are for sale.

The outdoor advertising industry funnels money to elected officials. For a few dollars elected officials sell out our Envirnment. This ugly ad facing I-95, and Jose Marti Park, is proof.

Anonymous said...

Scenic America is a national organization that fights billboards and visual pollution. They have a great website. Scenicamerica.org

Anonymous said...

Many people claim mural ads and the new LED billboards are illegal. In 2010 the City of Miami approved 14 new LED billboards. They are illegal under Federal, State and County laws.

Why is the City of Miami approving visual pollution?

Anonymous said...

oh give it a rest... there are so many more important things happening. sheesh

Anonymous said...

Who is protecting the Image and visual beauty of South Florida?

It turns out the County Sign Code is clear and it just needs to be enforced. County officials cannot depend on greedy dimwitted short sighted local elected officials to respect our beautiful natural and built Environment.

Ask your County Commissioners to enforce uniform standards. Ask your Commissioners to support a ban on new billboards.

Anonymous said...

The outdoor advertising industry spreads money around to buy elected officials.

South Florida's biggest industry is tourism and hospitality. 110,000 people are employed based on South Florida's assets, it's scenery and it's attractive buildings. If you allow out-of-state billboard companies to install dozens or hundreds of new LED billboards hiding our assets what do you have to offer?

David said...

In my humble opinion, that beautiful building should be torn down as it was initially constructed by FPL as office space immediately adjacent to their largest dispatch facility, Central Yard.

The building(s) were affectionately referrred to as Tallon Towers, a moniker derived from the name of the company's president at the time they were built.

Doesn't anyone miss Steve Frank and Jim Broadhead?

Anonymous said...

The City of Miami is losing over $1 MILLION per week. Pay and benefits for the City's employees take over 80% of all City revenues. The City has no money or desire to demise it's only administration building.

No elected official has had the brains or courage to reduce employee head count and to noticeably reduce pay and benefits.

Too bad the City approves illegal mural ads and illegal LED billboards. It cheapens the visual experience for residents and tourists.

Anonymous said...

Miami doesn't have any Fortune 500 Headquarters. Miami does have elected officials and administrators who can be bought by sleazy lobbyists for billboard companies. Need proof? Just look at all the new monster billboards and illegal mural ads!

Anonymous said...

The new City of Miami City Manager Johnny Martinez needs to learn how to manage the City after previous administrations hired 500 to 700 employees too many. Martinez needs to fire 500+ slacker employees and consolidate and abolish departments. Then he needs to respect the residents and tourists by not bending over backwards to approve illegal LED billboards and illegal mural ads.

Anonymous said...

The least they could do is advertise a good show, not some cheezy Spike TV reality show.

Anonymous said...

The biggest booster of illegal advertising is Commissioner Marc Sarnoff.

Anonymous said...

"Doesn't anyone miss Steve Frank and Jim Broadhead?"

Yep, David! As a shareholder, I miss Frank, Broadhead and Evanson. The current crop of exec's, Hay, Robo, Pimintel and Davidson are destroying the company. The stock price is in the doldrums, employee morale is horrible, ethics are non-existent among the executive leadership and there's too much reliance on political manipulation to drive shareholder return.

Anonymous said...

Experts are correct. The City of Miami Administration has pimped itself out. The City has committed municipal prostitution.

Joe Arriola
Pieter Bockweg
Marc Sarnoff
Manny Diaz

Illegal ads?

When will we see a perp walk?

Anonymous said...

Political Perps walk all the time in south Florida. Unfortunately they are not walking to jail.

Anonymous said...

Everyone see the ugly illegal ad on the Marquis Hotel facing I-395 at NE 2nd Avenue? That was supposed to be a nice hotel with expensive condos on top. Now it's just an tacky illegal billboard. Thank you commissioners.

Anonymous said...

Those LED billboards are disgusting. They advertise $4.99 Pizza and strip clubs. Some advertise trips to other countries. (No kidding. Miami is getting ugly with all the new billboards.) How could City officials stoop so low as to approve this visual pollution?

Anonymous said...

It is shameful that a community has to sell its very soul to advertisers, machinitas, lotteries and casinos because it is unwilling to operate within its own budget.

Anonymous said...

So true.
New City Manager Martinez needs to fire the useless and corrupt employees now.
(Some new $85,000 per year employees cannot read and write in English.)

No wonder the City is losing $1 mil per week.

Anonymous said...

Putting ads on everything in sight ruins the visual image of Miami-Dade County.

Geniusofdespair said...

How about this: The commissioners sell space on their chest during commission meetings. You can have your button with a message displayed for $100. We could fit about 20 buttons on each commissioners. That would be $2,000 each Commissioner, each meeting. That would mean the ads could bring $10,000 a meeting to City coffers. If we put stickers on their foreheads, we could bring in another $5,000 a meeting. We could even fasten them to their cheeks (not butt cheeks).

We have an advertising gold mine here!!!

Anonymous said...

Ad stickers on Commissioners? Great idea. They could even be paid a bonus every time the TV cameras panned to them. If they talk too much and meetings run overtime they could get another bonus. Brilliant.

Billboard booster City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff wears massive Prada and Gucci belt buckles. Is he getting paid to advertise?

Milly Herrera, hialeah said...

YUK! This looks so tacky! Good advertising is a powerful tool, but this demonstrates very poor taste in advertising. We should not allow it!

Anonymous said...

CBS Outdoor, a billion dollar sub of multi-billion dollar parent CBS, has 100,000 billboards nationwide. They want to cover Miami-Dade County in wall-to-wall billboards. Think CBS Outdoor gives a crap if the billboards make Miami-Dade County look like trash?

Anonymous said...

Most important thing we can all do now:

1) contact scenicmiamidade@gmail.com so
You get on email alerts
2) tell your city and county commissioner you
want no more billboards, esp electronic LED
digital billboards nor monster media tower
Billboards

Do
Thing

Anonymous said...

Scenicmiamidade.org has information on what people can do to fight visual pollution.

Also Scenicmiami.org

Get on the E-mail list.

Oppose visual pollution.

Anonymous said...

Anyone notice the new monster illegal mural ads near the Health District facing I-395? Facing historic residential homes?

Anonymous said...

What about the ads on the abandoned building north of I-395? It makes the ghetto known as Overtown look like a war torn disaster.

Anonymous said...

Someone should investigate. Those ads covering buildings might be illegal. Anyone contact the Feds?

50 story LED billboards distracting drivers? Cheapening Miami-Dade County? Anyone contact the Feds?

Anonymous said...

Los Angeles News
Building owner arrested for 'supergraphics'
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7639563

They are illegal in most areas. Fire code hazard. Miami makes money from them so they overlook the hazards.

Anonymous said...

Wow. An arrest.

Putting fabric ads over garage podiums also prevents light and especially air from getting in. Carbon Monoxide gets trapped putting drivers at risk. But Miami's elected officials don't care, as long as they're getting paid.

Feds?

Anonymous said...

Miami-Dade is looking so low class. Billboards are so ghetto.

Anonymous said...

This just in, the Feds say, not near my highway
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/30/2293781/us-officials-disallow-miamis-downtown.html

Anonymous said...

Smart people have been expecting the Feds to step in and shut down the illegal mural ads in Miami.

Next up, the illegal LED billboards...?

Anonymous said...

Federal Highway Administration wants the Florida Department of Transportation to enforce the Federal Highway Beautification Act of 1973. Miami-Dade County must enforce the Act too.

City of Miami acting illegally. Again.

Miami Herald has details.

Great news for opponents of visual pollution.

Anonymous said...

Feds state the City and billboard companies are operating illegally?

Duh.

Anonymous said...

What!? People are asking for more regulation and more enforcement of regulations? By “the government”? Now that’s something you don’t hear too often these days.

Maureen said...

Miami Herald:

The controversial 2007 Miami ordinance that allowed 35 giant advertising banners to be draped over buildings in and around downtown violates federal regulations and requires an overhaul, U.S. officials have concluded.

The unexpected decision could upset a lucrative arrangement for the cash-strapped city, ad companies that sell and install the murals, and property owners who rent wall space to them.

The decision comes at an especially inopportune time for the city, which is seeking authorization from Miami-Dade County to double the size of the designated mural zone -- which now roughly comprises downtown Miami, Edgewater and Wynwood -- by extending it west of Interstate 95 and along Interstate 395.

“It could have a pretty widespread financial impact," Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, whose district includes the mural zone and who championed the ordinance, said of the federal decision. Sarnoff estimates the murals bring in between $3 million and $4 million in fees annually into municipal coffers, substantial income for a city facing a $54 million deficit.

Anonymous said...

Miami Herald on July 1st, 2011

U.S. Officials (Federal Highway Administration) state the City of Miami's Mural Ad Ordinance violates federal regulations and requires an overhaul.

Feds are watching.

Elected officials cozy relationship with the criminal elements of the outdoor advertising industry must end. (FL?)

Experts state the City cannot be responsible for regulating a sign code. Need proof? Look at all the new monster billboards blocking views of South Florida.

Anonymous said...

If Marc Sarnoff wants to save some money for the City of Miami he should give up the taxpayer owned $60,000 SUV and the taxpayer paid $140,000 policeman chauffeur he demands 24/7 for his personal convenience.

Seriously? Sarnoff needs a chauffeured SUV for his 1/2 mile commute to City Hall?

Anonymous said...

The Federal government is absolutely correct in it's desire to enforce the Highway Beautification Act.

We can see that local elected officials are weak and too easily controlled by billboard companies.

Strong and clear sign codes must be in place and enforced.

Anonymous said...

Billboards ruin the image of Miami-Dade County.

WOOF said...

Commisioner's gov't supplied cars should be ad wrapped.

Anonymous said...

Miami-Dade County needs to step up and ban new billboards. The County needs to enforce it's Sign
Code. City's like Miami are too corrupt to act responsibly.

Anonymous said...

Frank Carollo needs to keep speaking up to prevent Miami from getting coveted in new billboards.

Imagine, City of Miami commissioners are such sell-outs they voted to put billboards in 5 public parks?

Feds? Time to step in.

Anonymous said...

Billboard boosters have conned Bruno Barrerio into sponsoring legislation favorable to the out-of-state scum who want to ruin the image of Miami-Dade County for their own profits.

Poor Bruno. Billboard companies play him for the fool.

Anonymous said...

LED billboards are illegal per Federal statues, State statues and County Sign Code states Miami Herald journalist Andres Viglucci on July 3rd, 2011.

Anonymous said...

July 4, 2011. Miami Herald prints another story about the City of Miami permitting another illegal LED billboard. Seems like the City of Miami is an "ongoing criminal enterprise".

Anonymous said...

City of Miami is busted again for violating Federal Law.