A new study shows that billboards negatively affect the values of neighboring properties.  It also found that cities with strict billboard controls are experiencing greater economic prosperity than those with controls that are less strict.

The report, “Beyond Aesthetics: How Billboards Affect Economic Prosperity,” by urban planner Jonathan Snyder, is believed to be the first study on the economic impacts of billboards on nearby real estate value.

Snyder found that in Philadelphia there is a correlation between a home’s value and its proximity to billboards.  He found that homes within 500 feet of a billboard are worth $30,826 less on average at the time of sale than those properties further away from billboards.  The study also found that each additional billboard within a census tract resulted in a decrease in home values of nearly $1,000.

Additionally, Snyder performed a survey of billboard controls and economic prosperity in 20 cities across the United States.  His report found that cities with stricter billboard controls have greater median incomes, lower poverty rates and lower home vacancy rates than city with less strict billboard controls.

Snyder is an urban planner from Philadelphia with a Master in City Planning degree and a concentration in Community and Economic Development from the University of Pennsylvania.  His research was generously support by a grant from the Samuel S. Fels Fund.

A University of Pennsylvania study found that the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society program to "green" nearly 4,500 vacant lots in Philadelphia resulted in a significant reduction in gun assaults across all four sections of Philadelphia and significant reductions in vandalism in one section of the city. In addition, the program has enhanced the health of residents, created jobs and increased surrounding property values.

The PHS program began in Philadelphia in 1999 and involves clearing trash, grading the land, planting grass and trees, and installing fences around each lot to prevent illegal dumping. The Penn study was led by Charles C. Branas, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine and compared ten years of data between vacant lots and improved vacant lots. "The large number of vacant lots we studied and the design of our analysis make this study some of the strongest evidence to date that greening vacant urban land is a promising approach to improving health and safety" Branas commented. The cleaner environment eliminates hiding places for firearms and signals that the city has regained control over those areas, discouraging crime.

Click here to read the full PlanPhilly article

 

 

A new tool is now available to address blight in your neighborhood: the Bandit Project can help you reclaim some of the beauty that your neighborhood deserves.

Bandit signs are a form of very “un-green” advertising and in many places, especially in Philadelphia; they are illegal simply for this reason. They come in a variety of formats but the most common one is the “coroplast” (corrugated plastic) rectangle. Many neighborhood groups are organizing a campaign to address this burden on their communities.

To report a bandit sign in your community click here.

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2011
Contact: Mary C. Tracy
215-731-1775

SCRUB Foundation Receives $26,000 Grant from the Philadelphia Foundation for Board of Directors Development

Mary C. Tracy, the Executive Director of SCRUB, the Public Voice for Public Space, is pleased to announce that SCRUB has received a $26,000 grant from the William J. McCahan 3rd Fund in Memory of Thomas C. McCahan and Florence M. McCahan to support SCRUB's efforts to build and strengthen its Board. Announcement of the grant was made by Andrew Swinney, President of the Foundation. The Foundation's Board of Managers approved the grant on September 16, 2011.

SCRUB began as a grassroots coalition in 1990 to stop the proliferation of billboards in Philadelphia. In 1991, SCRUB effectively spearheaded the passage of a comprehensive sign control law. In 2000, SCRUB became a 501 (c) (3) organization. Today, SCRUB serves as a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and improving the city's distinct visual environment through education, advocacy, and legal action. SCRUB has led volunteer attorneys and community partners in successfully challenging illegal billboards and in establishing legal precedents in land use law in Pennsylvania. SCRUB also advocates on behalf of Fairmount Park, having coordinated the legal effort to protect Burholme Park in Northeast Philadelphia from institutional development.

The Philadelphia Foundation, a public charity, is Southwestern Pennsylvania's leading center for community philanthropic engagement and is committed to improving the quality of life in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties through funds established by its donors. Established in 1918, The Philadelphia Foundation continues to help donors harness their generosity and vision by providing tools, knowledge and financial stewardship directed to maximize the strategic impact of charitable contributions. Grants from more than 775 charitable funds strengthen the effectiveness of nonprofits and support programs that are vital to the people of this region.

 

Thanks to GreenfestPhilly and our sponsors, DiBruno Brothers and Macy's.  Thanks especially to all the visitors who stopped by our stand on Saturday!  You made the event a great success, and we're thrilled to have had the oppoprtunity to meet so many people who didn't previously know about SCRUB. Greenfest was a great opportunity to meet people who share our concerns, frustrations, and our sense of a need for action against visual blight.  Here are some photos from the event:

 

 

And here is Carmine Zulli (right) stopping by our office to claim his prize in our raffle: the $100 DiBruno Bros gift card.  Congratulations, Mr. Zulli!

 

 

           This August SCRUB's own Mary Tracy, through her role as President of Scenic America, attended the annual conference for the National Alliance of Highway Beautification Agencies (NAHBA) in Charlotte, North Carolina.    NAHBA is a think tank that aims to address issues concerning the Federal Highway Beautification Act. The organization seeks "to be an advocate for developing and promoting innovative ideas and consistent business practices for the control of outdoor advertising, junkyards, scenic and beautification programs; streamline the federal outdoor advertising control program through improved communication; facilitate the dissemination of information to members; and to encourage the integration of competing interests that serve the motoring public."

            Despite the expansiveness of this mission, Mary Tracy was the lone spokesperson at the conference to advocate for scenic beauty: the singular foil to the agenda of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). In Tracy's words, the conference consisted of "the regulators and the regulated"-i.e. federal and state level highway personnel responsible for enforcement of the Highway Beautification Act and the billboard lobbyists, whose purpose it is to get as many billboards as possible along the highway regardless of the impact on safety, aesthetics, and the environment.  Save the presence of Scenic America, there was no other group at this meeting to represent the public interest.  

            Tracy was a speaker on several panels at the NAHBA meeting including: segmentation of scenic byways, a review of a pilot program in South Carolina and Florida, and the presentation of the International Scan Report on Outdoor Advertising.  As Tracy commented after the event, "the NAHBA conference provides an important forum to discuss outdoor advertising issues, but there is a need for greater public participation to offset the imbalance created by the well represented billboard lobbyists."

            Here at SCRUB, we work to build a community of informed citizens who can shape decisions that impact the visual character of their communities, cities and states. We cannot stress enough just how integral the public's input is in this process to maintain beautiful public space. In the coming months, Philadelphia's lawmakers and billboard lawmakers will be working to rewrite the sign laws protecting our city.   We are counting on SCRUB's members and friends to join us at the table where these laws are being made.