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City rejects Garden video billboard
Objections ranged from traffic concerns to 'just plain ugly'
By Sasha Talcott, Globe Staff | July 28, 2006
Boston city officials said this week they have rejected TD Banknorth Garden's plan to erect a giant video billboard on its building after hearing strong opposition from neighborhood groups.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority formally turned down the billboard because the city allows such signs only in designated entertainment areas, a BRA spokeswoman said.
When the proposal became public in December, it included a 7-foot-tall, 240-foot-long message strip and a centerpiece 80-foot-wide screen, which would have made it one of the largest in the city. It would have been among the last things visible to motorists entering Boston from the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge on Interstate 93.
``We get proposals all the time" for light-up billboards and other electronic signs, said Jessica Shumaker, spokeswoman for the authority. ``The only place they're allowed is entertainment districts" -- Lansdowne Street near Fenway Park and the theater district.
The Garden, home to the Boston Celtics and Bruins, had planned to use its billboard for color advertisements and promotions for the two teams. Though it would have had the capacity to play video, Garden executives had planned to show mostly still images. The project had been stalled for weeks in the city's review process.
The Garden's president, John Wentzell, said: ``We'll listen to what the ultimate concerns are and see if we can address those." He said he would like to sit down with city officials and ``get a final understanding of what we're missing."
Several neighborhood groups met with city officials and sent letters in opposition to the project. The Charlestown Waterfront Coalition called the billboard proposal a source of ``profound concern," and wrote that, if carried out, it would ``irreparably harm our open space at Paul Revere Park, the National Historic Park, and in the Navy Yard."
``It's just plain ugly," said Ivey St. John, a member of the coalition's steering committee. ``The dimensions are highly imposing. The design that was shown to this community totally lacked any subtlety in the colors or in the presentation. This impacted unfairly on a residential community that has worked very hard to improve its environment."
Another neighborhood group, the Friends of City Square Park, argued that the billboard would detract from the Zakim bridge and the Boston skyline. President Ken Stone also wrote that the billboard would be akin to ``asking for serious automobile accidents" on that part of the highway.
Stone, when informed yesterday that the proposal would not go forward, said: ``For public safety, that was the right move. We're very grateful to the mayor for his response to our letters and comments and concerns."
Wentzell, the Garden president, declined to comment directly on the neighbors' criticisms, saying he would ``rather look forward, rather than backward." ``Let's understand what, if anything, is plausible or possible," he said.
Shumaker, of the BRA, said city officials notified executives at the Garden in mid-June of its rejection.
Video billboards have caught on rapidly in sports arenas because of their ability to alternate among several advertisers -- making more money for the arena -- and because they allow advertisers the flexibility to change their ads whenever they please. Outside of sports, several other metropolitan areas, including Cleveland, Hartford, and New Orleans, have allowed video displays along highways.
Objections ranged from traffic concerns to 'just plain ugly'
By Sasha Talcott, Globe Staff | July 28, 2006
Boston city officials said this week they have rejected TD Banknorth Garden's plan to erect a giant video billboard on its building after hearing strong opposition from neighborhood groups.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority formally turned down the billboard because the city allows such signs only in designated entertainment areas, a BRA spokeswoman said.
When the proposal became public in December, it included a 7-foot-tall, 240-foot-long message strip and a centerpiece 80-foot-wide screen, which would have made it one of the largest in the city. It would have been among the last things visible to motorists entering Boston from the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge on Interstate 93.
``We get proposals all the time" for light-up billboards and other electronic signs, said Jessica Shumaker, spokeswoman for the authority. ``The only place they're allowed is entertainment districts" -- Lansdowne Street near Fenway Park and the theater district.
The Garden, home to the Boston Celtics and Bruins, had planned to use its billboard for color advertisements and promotions for the two teams. Though it would have had the capacity to play video, Garden executives had planned to show mostly still images. The project had been stalled for weeks in the city's review process.
The Garden's president, John Wentzell, said: ``We'll listen to what the ultimate concerns are and see if we can address those." He said he would like to sit down with city officials and ``get a final understanding of what we're missing."
Several neighborhood groups met with city officials and sent letters in opposition to the project. The Charlestown Waterfront Coalition called the billboard proposal a source of ``profound concern," and wrote that, if carried out, it would ``irreparably harm our open space at Paul Revere Park, the National Historic Park, and in the Navy Yard."
``It's just plain ugly," said Ivey St. John, a member of the coalition's steering committee. ``The dimensions are highly imposing. The design that was shown to this community totally lacked any subtlety in the colors or in the presentation. This impacted unfairly on a residential community that has worked very hard to improve its environment."
Another neighborhood group, the Friends of City Square Park, argued that the billboard would detract from the Zakim bridge and the Boston skyline. President Ken Stone also wrote that the billboard would be akin to ``asking for serious automobile accidents" on that part of the highway.
Stone, when informed yesterday that the proposal would not go forward, said: ``For public safety, that was the right move. We're very grateful to the mayor for his response to our letters and comments and concerns."
Wentzell, the Garden president, declined to comment directly on the neighbors' criticisms, saying he would ``rather look forward, rather than backward." ``Let's understand what, if anything, is plausible or possible," he said.
Shumaker, of the BRA, said city officials notified executives at the Garden in mid-June of its rejection.
Video billboards have caught on rapidly in sports arenas because of their ability to alternate among several advertisers -- making more money for the arena -- and because they allow advertisers the flexibility to change their ads whenever they please. Outside of sports, several other metropolitan areas, including Cleveland, Hartford, and New Orleans, have allowed video displays along highways.
