Katherine Snow Smith recently wrote an article for the St. Petersburg Times published here. The article concerns LED signage for businesses, and the misuse of those signs according to the 
City of St. Petersburg. The article is an interesting read about a battle between the City and business owners who have already invested heavily in digital LED signage. The City’s perspective is that full color, flashing graphics are disruptive and garish. They have regulations against certain types of signage and certain images that can be shown on that signage, and failing to meet those regulations results in your business being fined. They are trying to keep the city clean and driver’s eyes on the road. Clean, safe streets are a good thing.
And from a business owner’s perspective, they are simply using whatever means they have at their disposal to attract new customers. Not all business is booming, and if a business heavily invests in a digital LED sign as a means to attract new customers, they should be able to use it to its full capabilities. They would not have spent thousands of dollars on the sign if they knew ahead of time they would never be able to use all of its features. They are privately held and perfectly legal and reputable businesses, and the city should not dictate their marketing initiatives.
Two separate parties with two separate sides of the debate.
I can understand where each side is coming from, but I have a bit of a different perspective. I am a small business owner myself, and my business is selling signs. Like I said above, I can see where both sides are coming from. As the city, I can understand wanting to limit distractions for drivers. I can understand not wanting to turn business districts into large, flashing billboards. Too many digital signs would be over the top, and would harm the city’s image. And as a business owner myself, I can see how a business would be quite upset if they invested thousands of dollars into something they could no longer use how they intended.
As a sign guy though, I want every business in the city to call me and ask for a $30,000 sign. From purely a business perspective, I am absolutely for more signage, wherever possible. Signage is my business, and creating new signs allows my business to stay afloat. If more customers wanted more digital signage, and wanted to use a local company for the project, that would absolutely be good for me.
There are many different moving parts when talking about such a large project, though. It is not a simple debate with parties whose views are in black and white. My own view consists of many shades of grey. Every city has different rules and regulations regarding thousands of different aspects of daily life. City regulations regarding digital signage have been in effect for years. They are always changing and adapting to new types of signage and advertising. In the source article, there is a paragraph that troubles me as someone in the sign industry. That paragraph is:
Photo by James Borchuck
“Mark Scribano, a vet and owner of the animal hospital, got a permit for his sign and admits he didn’t read all of the ordinance, including the fact graphics are not allowed. His application stated he paid about $30,000 for his sign. He thinks the permitting office should have realized he was installing a sign that allowed graphics and wishes they had alerted him to the restrictions deep in the ordinance.”
As a sign guy, I can’t help but think the sign company who provided the $30,000 sign and helped obtain the permit for Mark is partly at fault here. Sign companies should know the city regulations regarding the products they sell. There is absolutely no way the sign should have left the door of that sign shop without the owner knowing exactly what he was allowed to display on his sign. A sum of $30,000 is a large investment in Mark’s business, and the fact that he was not told by his sign company there may be future issues regarding his investment is unfortunate.
Sign companies may be the perfect partner for both the city and its business owners, if they are knowledgeable about city regulations and are forthcoming about those regulations to their customers. We want to sell lots of signs, but we also want those signs to be viewed as professional, effective communication tools for the businesses that purchase them. We are the experts on issues such as visibility, functional design, and effective communication, and part of being an expert in those areas means we need to be sure every one of our customers has the information necessary to make an informed decision about their signage. Helping customers make those informed decisions and finding a product or service of ours to meet their needs is what we do. Business owners should operate and market their businesses in ways that are responsible and reflective of the community they serve, and the city should bend over backwards to help each and every business owner accomplish this. Sign companies like mine should be in the middle, supplying valuable information to businesses to allow them to make an informed decision, and in doing so helping the city inform their businesses of each and every regulation regarding their signage.
There are many different viewpoints on the issue, and it will be an interesting debate to keep an eye on in the coming months. Take a minute and read the article. Let me know what you think and what side you are on. And if you ever have any questions about any of your signage as it relates to city and county regulations, feel free to give us a call. Part of our job is to make sure our customers get exactly what they want, and giving them the information they need to make an informed decision is step one in that process.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article1203284.ece
http://signaramatampabay.com
2012 is right around the corner, under a day and a half around it to be exact. With 2012 comes an increased amount of excitement and curiosity about what the new year will bring us. In our business, were always looking out for the next best thing, whether that be a new type of sign, a new material, or a new method to produce the great signs and banners we have been producing for over a decade. In that decade, every year always brings new technology and innovative ways to operate. It brings new customers, with new businesses and exciting projects. It allows us to further cement many of the long time relationships we have built with many of our faithful customers. These are all great things we very much look forward to.
