[Texgreen] ACTION ALERT! Stop the electronic billboard invasion in Texas!

[Margaret]

I've seen a couple of these around Austin and they are hideous, a
blight on a even already blighted urban landscape!

- - - Act today before it's too late and share widely! - - -

Stop the electronic billboard invasion in Texas!

"You can't avoid it. There's no mute button. There's no on-off
switch." ~ Paul Meyer, president and chief operating officer of Clear
Channel Outdoor

Guess what friends: He's right, and he wants to bring his company's
new, razzle-dazzle billboards your way! At the request of the
multi-billion dollar billboard industry and with no reliable, unbiased
safety data, no projected condemnation costs, and no public polling,
the Texas Highway Commissioners voted to publish a rule that will
allow electronic digital changing message LED (light emitting diode)
billboards to be added to your urban Texas skylines. In fact, the rule
will even allow them in the unincorporated extraterritorial
jurisdictions (ETJs) that surround your city's corporate limits. But
it's not too late to act since the final rule won't be adopted until
after Dec. 6, 2007.

get info:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2436/t/3413/content.jsp?content_KEY=3195
see videos of digital billboards:
http://archive.theday.com/re.aspx?re=8271837c-1943-4186-8a4e-a4305078053a

ACTION:
TX Dot will not accept e-mail letters.
PLEASE WRITE a letter and MAIL it no later than Monday, Dec. 3, 2007.
Letter deadline is December 6.

There's a sample letter from the Scenic America web page:
http://scenic.org/TxDOT.doc .

Here's a shorter letter. Please put your own words in a letter and
send it right away.

John Campbell
Director, Right of Way Division
Texas DOT
125 E. 11th St.
Austin, Texas  78701-2483

I am opposed to electronic (LED) billboards in Texas.

Allowing these garish electronic billboards will:
. Serve no public purpose.
. Be a huge scenic polluter: just look at the Berdoll sign on Hwy. 71
east of Austin.
. Distract drivers: it's obvious, and there is no unbiased research to
prove otherwise.
. Be a huge power consumer: a 12'x33' Daktronics 3400 series uses
15.82 kilowatts.
. Make possible sexually explicit advertising in living color, visible
for miles.
. Reject overwhelming sentiment of Texans against billboards (86% in a
recent survey)

There is no compelling reason for TX DOT to allow electronic
billboards, other than greed by the outdoor advertising industry.

It is time to say "ENOUGH"! Please stop electronic billboards from
being authorized.

TX DOT should continue the current prohibition of these signs.

Sincerely,