Awesome, or ugly mobile billboard that needs banning? Credit: Photo by Richard Whittaker

I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I’ll never see a tree at all.
– Ogden Nash

While no-one seems to like downtown billboards, no-one seems to know what to do with them. Council member Mike Martinez had got his billboard ordinance on this week’s agenda, but now has agenda-setter’s regret. The ordinance aims to move billboards out of town while protecting scenic areas: to get the billboard industry on-board (no pun), they would be able to relocate to other sites, the boards could be higher for elevated roadways, and they could be twice as big. On top of that, mobile billboards would be illegal within city limits.

But Scenic Austin thinks “cap and trade” doesn’t work: the billboard companies oppose extra restrictions; the mobile billboard industry says the ban would only put them out of business and do nothing to stop people vinyling their car with a banner: the Design Commission opposes relocation and any softening of size restrictions or Scenic Roadway protections: and the Planning Commission seems no more receptive. So now Martinez is proposing a new, slim-line ordinance, but wants the council to push the discussion back to May 8 – two days before the election. Will he really have the time or the votes to get to a third reading before then?

This article appears in April 18 • 2008.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.