It's hard to believe that a Cincinnati company has, for years, been putting benches on local roads near bus stops without paying anyone rent or getting permits.
The Bench Billboard company apparently asks no one for permission, realizing that the state isn't interested in regulating or policing them, and then sells advertising on the benches to local businesses.
Seems there are plenty of ways for local officials to police billboards and yard signs, but benches have slipped through without notice from local government. Until citizens started complaining.
So it's a good thing that four Metro Council members have brought forth a resolution to regulate, and remove, some of the unsightly advertising signs on benches near bus stops. The signs are most prevalent along Dixie Highway and Shelbyville Road.
Democrats Rick Blackwell and Mary Woolridge, along with Republicans Hal Heiner and Kelly Downard. Their districts include major stretches of those roads.
Their plan would allow the city's Public Works Dept. to institute a permitting process, and give it the authority to remove benches. It would require permission from the state.
The Cincinnati company, called Bench Billboard Advertising, responded to the C-J by e-mail, and said it would only answer questions sent in advance. Which is always a sign that the company knows it's in the wrong and doesn't want to be embarrassed in the local media.
Company president Bruce Graumlich wrote that he had permits for all his benches and that all were "lawfully placed." None of the members of the Metro Council could find evidence of such permits, according to Republican caucus chair Steve Haag. And the state doesn't issue such permits.
So guess who's lying?
From a business standpoint, it's hard to imagine how the company has gotten away with this for so long. There may be some benefit to giving people a place to sit, but it shouldn't be OK to place advertising signs in public rights of way.
I don't disagree that an ad for a seat is a decent trade -- and the buses themselves have ads so it's not like it's a commercial free zone.
But putting an ad -- no matter what sort of utilitarian shape it has -- on property you don't own is just.... illegal. (Seems to me. I am not a lawyer and don't play one on t.v.)
I have some sympathy for the company. A few years ago my idea of fun was to publish a mythical local newspaper, and I set news racks around town. It took weeks to find out how to do it properly, who to get permission from, and in the end there wasn't really an answer. I just found the person who officially didn't know (a Mr. Gordon, I think). I took photos of the locations, sent copies of the paper, agreed to follow rules nobody else does when they place news racks, and apparently convinced him I meant no harm. He just said ok, on the phone. I then considered this permitted, and legal, since there was nothing else in place, nothing else for me to do.
Yeah next we can start charging for people to set on the benches too ! I'm sure the people complaining has never road a TARC in there lives so that must mean they have nothing better to do then complain about stuff that has nothing to do with them . How much of the permit money is going in there pockets anyway ?????
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