By Pamela Wilson. Excerpted from Times of San Diego. Read the full version online at timesofsandiego.com.
​Mayor Todd Gloria was a councilmember in 2013 when the Land Use and Housing Committee rejected a developer’s bid to demolish sign limits by draping downtown with nearly 100 building wraps and other ad media, including kiosks like those now envisioned. Now the Mayor has abandoned his past defense of our city’s distinct character, using his power under the strong mayor system to sidestep transparent review of this drastic zoning exception. Four no votes at the June 6 council meeting are required to prevent San Diego from becoming just another ad-blighted city.

Rumors are rampant at City Hall that the ad screens are just the tip of the iceberg. Next will be a wholesale dismantlement of sign limits — so expect wraps, digital billboards, and other visual litter in the near future. This explains why unprecedented exceptions to sign limits are proposed for the paltry sum of about $600,000 in total revenue per year for the general fund.  There is no plausible motive other than to incrementally erode our sign limits by auctioning our field of vision to the highest bidder.
Doing so will brand our elected council as less progressive than appointed Port Commissioners, who in 2018 rejected similar ad kiosks along our waterfront by the same vendor, IKE Smart City. Debate on those kiosks lasted for a year and included a robust discussion of the data-gathering technology contained in these devices.  But this year, the info-capturing capabilities of interactive signs have been obfuscated in staff reports and minimized in ad agency testimony — and not even explained in the agreement the council will vote on.

It’s a stunning turnabout that councilmembers who claim to be most concerned about remedying the city’s entrenched patterns of inequality and addressing climate change are embracing an industry that stands for the opposite. The internet is replete with critiques of the advertising business as one that targets poor communities, promotes unhealthy consumerism and over-consumption, spews visual pollution, and accelerates climate change.  No elected official can claim to be progressive while backing this regressive policy reversal."
Excerpted from Time of San Diego. Read the full version online at timesofsandiego.com.

Planning commission okays 50 (with an option to add up to 75)
By Sheila Pell
​They're a step closer to landing on a sidewalk downtown, but not an inch closer to universal love: dozens of eight-foot-tall digital kiosks that threaten to end the city's historic ban on new outdoor advertising.
The Planning Commission last week voted 4-2 to recommend the San Diego City Council amend its sign ordinance to allow for at least 50 digital advertising and wayfinding kiosks downtown - a project the city calls a "pilot."

It's similar to a plan the port rejected in 2018, and some say San Diego, a pioneer in warding off once-static billboards, has become a target of visual advertisers.

"We're sort of a pristine little gem here. You don't see this kind of thing, you don't see more billboards. There are no digital billboards," said Pamela Wilson, the founder of Scenic San Diego, urging the commission to vote no.

The city attorney's office has repeatedly warned that allowing exceptions to the offsite advertising ban, as the proposal does, could undermine the legal defensibility of the sign regulations.

"How is this different from just blowing up the sign ordinance and putting advertising around our city?" Palmer asked. ​Read the full article online at ​SanDiegoReader.com/news/2023/may/02/stringers-sneaking-ads-kiosks-downtown-san-diego/.

Debates over electronic signs around the world have now arrived in San Diego, which is considering allowing interactive kiosks on its streets. By Megan Graham, TheWallstreetJournal.com. 
​A series of disputes over digital signs has arrived in sunny San Diego, where critics say a longstanding strict stance on new billboards is now under pressure from a proposal to allow outdoor digital kiosks.
The city council’s economic development committee last month voted in favor of bringing the proposal to the full city council, clearing the way for it to vote on the question, which it is expected to do in May. A 1981 U.S. Supreme Court ruling permitted the city to ban any new billboards that don’t meet certain standards, though those built before then are still standing. “It’s a Trojan horse,” said Lisa Ross, chair of the Sierra Club’s San Diego Chapter, an environmental advocacy group that opposes the proposal. “We think they’re putting revenue ahead of the best interest of the public.” ​​

From the San Diego Union-Tribune article by David Garrick: 
Could digital ad displays be coming to San Diego? Proposal for 50 interactive kiosks downtown raises visual pollution concerns
​"Supporters say they could bring millions in revenue. But the city’s independent budget analyst raised concerns about such ideas in December, a decade after the city attorney issued a similar warning.
San Diego officials are considering an outdoor advertising company’s proposal to install 50 large interactive digital kiosks throughout downtown.
Supporters say the deal would help tourists get around better and provide an estimated $14.7 million in revenue sharing over the next 10 years for the city and another $7 million for the nonprofit San Diego Downtown Partnership.
Critics say it would create visual pollution and force San Diego to amend its carefully crafted sign ordinance, which could lead to large “building wrap” ads that could make downtown look more like Las Vegas or Times Square."

"Scenic San Diego, a group that has successfully fought digital billboards and similar advertising throughout the region, said Tuesday that the proposal could let outdoor advertisers get “a new toehold” here. The Downtown Residents Group has raised concerns about how kiosk locations would be chosen and is lobbying against plans to have the revenue benefit the entire city, contending it should stay downtown." Read the full article online. ​

From the San Diego Union-Tribune article by Blake Nelson, Staff Reporter: 
La Mesa explores digital billboards, sparking debate underway in other parts of the county ​

"Critics have raised concerns about 'visual pollution' while proponents highlight the opportunity to promote local events and raise extra revenue

La Mesa leaders are considering installing several digital billboards throughout the city, kicking off a debate already underway in other parts of the region about the effects those structures could have on the community. Critics have raised concerns about “visual pollution” and their potential to distract drivers, while proponents highlight the opportunity to promote local events and raise extra revenue without new taxes.

The city council created a new committee Tuesday to dig into the issue. “We want to do more for our city and we can’t do it without money,” said Councilmember Patricia Dillard. “I also see this as a positive.”

El Cajon has long considered a similar measure, and the city of San Diego may install dozens of digital kiosks throughout downtown. While the latter proposal has already been approved by one committee, it’s drawn fierce opposition from Scenic San Diego, a group that has successfully pushed back against similar advertising around the region.

Scenic San Diego’s director, Pamela Wilson, has already raised concerns about La Mesa, and she appears to have an ally in Councilmember Jack Shu. “I think there’s some real hazards involved,” Shu said Tuesday. Both Shu and Dillard were appointed to the city’s subcommittee that could help shape a development agreement with Clear Channel Outdoor, a global advertising company." Read the full article online. ​