SPECIAL COMMUNITY HEARING

for Verizon Electronic Billboard Act

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012

A bill, officially known as Bill B19-517, "The Verizon Center Graphics and Entertainment Act of 2011," was recently introduced to allow the Verizon Center to install up to nine lighted and animated exterior electronic billboards of any size and at any location on the Verizon Center. These billboards would be exempted from the regulations that applies to all other billboards in the city.

Because of community opposition to the bill, a scheduled City Council hearing for the bill was canceled, to be rescheduled. However, a special ANC6 public space hearing has been scheduled about it, and details are below.

Meanwhile, this afternoon, the DNA met with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, part of the Verizon Center, to discuss proposed changes to their plan. A summary of the meeting follows.

Proposed Changes by the Verizon Center

In the meeting today, the Verizon Center proposed changes to the design, size and other characteristics of the billboards. Things have been scaled down significantly. None of the billboards will have sound. The existing electronic marquis sign on 7th Street, near McDonalds (the "Geico" sign), will be removed. Smaller electronic billboards will be installed.

The wraparound billboard at 7th and H Streets, which would have covered some of the windows at Vida Fitness, has been reduced in size and will cover none of Vida's windows. The  non-electronic billboards on the 6th Street side of the Verizon Center would remain that way, with only some down-lighting installed to illuminate them. No electronic billboards would be installed on 6th Street.

The Verizon Center is willing to get more input from the community and work together to establish certain style guidelines for the lighting of the electronic billboards, such as colors, intensity, flashing, contrast, etc.

We have attached a document from Monumental Sports & Entertainment which has two sets of renderings. The first renderings are the new concepts based on community feedback; the second set of renderings are the original concepts. You can see the effects of the proposed changes more easily in this one document.

You can download the document here: Verizon Center Exterior Signage Renderings.pdf.

There is work to be done to come to an agreement on this, and draft changes to the proposed plan. Vagueness will be replaced with specificity. The hearing on Tuesday, January 31, will give you an opportunity to hear things in more detail and ask questions before this goes to the full ANC. Details of the hearing follow.

 

ANC6 Public Space Meeting on Verizon Electronic Billboard Act

On Tuesday, January 31, at 7 PM, a special ANC6 public space hearing will be held on the proposed bill at Calvary Baptist Church, 755 8th St NW. This is where the DNA normally holds its public meetings.

The Transportation and Public Space Committee will hear from the Verizon Center about changes to the proposed bill, and citizens will be given a chance to ask questions. At the hearing, the committee will vote to support or oppose this bill, and make its recommendation to the full ANC. At its next meeting, the ANC will vote whether to accept the committee's recommendation, and in turn report its support or opposition to the City Council.

ANC decisions carry great weight with the city government, so the committee hearing on January 31, and the subsequent ANC meeting will be important for you to attend, if you care about this issue.

The full ANC meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 8, at 7:00 pm, at the Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE. We will send a reminder to our DNA mailing list about that meeting and hearing on the proposed bill.

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