Critics question new billboard deal in Oakland

Critics question new billboard deal
Proposal would build two new double-sided freeway signs, remove

By Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Billboard critics are questioning a deal proposed by Clear Channel Outdoor to build two new double-sided freeway billboards and remove 30 smaller ones scattered throughout neighborhoods.

Under terms of a resolution headed to the City Council tonight, called a billboard relocation agreement by city staff but referred to as a business retention agreement by Clear Channel, the company will remove 30 smaller signs at no cost to the city. Clear Channel has also agreed to contribute $100,000 to the city's general fund.

When Clear Channel first proposed the swap last summer, company officials said it needed the new freeway signs to generate $5 million to pay moving expenses and higher rents when its low-cost lease at the Port of Oakland expires in April. Without such a deal, it would likely leave town, said Michael Colbruno, vice president for government affairs.

The latest offer removes 30 signs with a combined 5,424 square feet of ad space generating $198,150 in annual net revenue to the company. The two new billboards will have a combined 2,688 square feet of ad space and are projected to generate $122,800 in annual net revenue, although they are expected to generate more gross income and be worth more. The economic value of the new billboards is $1.23 million, slightly more than the value of those replaced.

Oakland approved an ordinance against new billboards in 1997. Under a sign amortization program adopted in 1998, 558 billboards -- about one third of the total signs in Oakland -- are scheduled for removal between 2004 and 2009.

But City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, who worked to increase the number of signs to be removed under Clear Channel's deal from 10 to 30, said these kinds of swaps are the only way to more speedily remove the glut of smaller billboards in poorer residential neighborhoods.

Under the deal, one new 48-foot sign will replace a smaller billboard along Interstate 880 at High Street. A second sign will be erected on commercial prop- erty at 3425 Ettie St. in West Oakland. It will be near the junction of Interstate 580 and 80, near the Emeryville border.

Vice Mayor Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) opposes the deal for many reasons, including that there are several new market-rate housing developments planned near the new sign. Plus, she said, only three of the 30 billboards to be removed are located in her district.

"I've put out a plea to my fellow council members, but the only one willing (to back me) is Jean (Quan)," Nadel said. "It's totally outrageous. I have more than twice as many billboards in my district than everybody else. ... (Council President) Ignacio (De La Fuente) has less than I've got and he's taking twice as many (down)."

Under 1998 guidelines drafted specifically for freeway billboard relocations, the total square footage of signs to be removed had to be three times the new signs' square footage.

Serena Chen, policy director for the American Lung Association of the East Bay and a former member of the Oakland Billboard Coalition, a broad-based task force responsible for drafting the billboard amortization program, said Clear Channel's offer doesn't seem to be a good deal for the city.

"I'm disappointed that all the work staff did previously to make sure the city got a fair deal with swapping billboards is not being followed," she said.

Colbruno said the relocation rules do not apply because this is a business retention deal. Under the proposed plan, Clear Channel and its 80 to 100 employees will stay in Oakland for a minimum of 10 years. The company's executive offices will relocate to the new Shorenstein building on Clay Street, and the operations division will relocate to 2857 Hannah St.

Colbruno said although Clear Channel is a multimillion-dollar corporation, every division, including his, must be self-sufficient and generate its own income. Although the company paid $960 a month in rent to the port, it will have to invest $600,000 to $1 million to outfit the operations yard, he said.