In the March 5, 2015 edition of the Glendale Star Becker Boards is running a full page advertisement. The ad states that Becker Boards will pay someone $1,000 to be donated to their favorite 501C3 charity if you can see a crane on their property on March 13, 2015 between 3 pm and 6 pm. Becker is running a “crane test” on their property that evening try to prove that their proposed digital and static billboards are benign and really won’t bother you.
There are qualifiers to win the money: 1. you have to be able to see the crane with the naked eye; 2. you must see it from the first floor of your home or yard; 3. you must live in Glendale and 4. you must call your district councilmember or Mark Becker (602-740-9145) to have them come to your home to verify your claim. Oh, and only 1 donation per household. So don’t have your 5 family members call to make a claim.
It’s a great marketing shtick but Becker has missed the larger picture. In their stubborn attempt to get their billboards approved they do not realize their action as precedent setting. Should those billboards be approved the door is open to allow billboards all along the Loop 101 from Bell Road to 59th Avenue. With the exception of the Bell Road commercial corridor, the majority of property along the Loop 101 in Glendale is all residential with a sea of homes dotting the landscape. More applications for billboards along the Loop 101 are sure to follow.
There are only 2 sections of the Loop 101 in Glendale. One section is from Camelback Road to Northern Avenue. That area is commercial with the WalMart Center at Camelback Road to Dignity Hospital West south of Northern Avenue. Billboards in that area are appropriate to a commercial corridor. However, the other section of Loop 101 runs from Bell Road eastward to 59th Avenue. Only Bell Road is commercial. Beyond Bell all one can see are homes. That area is not appropriate for the proliferation of billboards.
There is a large segment of Glendale citizens philosophically opposed to billboards as visual pollution. For them it is a matter of principle to keep billboards out of Glendale as much as possible.
There is a great deal of anger and frustration by residents in the Sahuaro and Cholla districts. They fought the fight against billboards and were pleased when the city council listened to their voices and denied the Becker billboard proposal. Now it has been resurrected and they must fight the same issue again. Councilmember Gary Sherwood has said publicly that he will bring the issue up every six months until it is approved. Is he pushing this issue because of the campaign contributions he received from the Becker billboard interests as well as attorneys from the Jordan Law Group, attorneys for Becker? That is for you to decide.
On another note: The advisory recommendations of denial of the proposed Foothills library sale and relocation made by three commissions, Arts, Library and Parks & Recreation were to be received by the city council at the March 3, 2015 city council workshop meeting. That did not occur and now we are hearing that those recommendations of denial will be presented to the council “sometime this spring.” Many residents are wondering what the heck is going on? It leads them to assume that there is some kind of secret deal between Midwestern University and the City of Glendale and that it is a fait accompli. Residents are decidedly unhappy between the billboard issue rising again and the limbo of waiting for a final decision on the proposed library sale. It’s time to put both issues out of their misery irrevocably and permanently.
© Joyce Clark, 2015
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There’s our pseudo mayor. “I am in the district as far away as possible from the affected area”, said the sorta mayor, “and I will continue to hammer this deal until I find the votes, regardless of what the people want.” After all why should the opinion of the citizens of Glendale matter compared to Mr. Sherwood’s. Didn’t I read a poem about him once?
’Twas Sherwood, and the slithy toves
Did conspire and gimble on the 101;
All mimsy were the big billboards,
And the locals raths outraged.
“Beware of Becker Boards, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Campaign cash, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his flip flopped sword in hand:
Long time the Glendale foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Sherwood, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The billboards stacked on the 101!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Glendalians?
Those who whine, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
’Twas Sherwood, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Randy, Outstanding…would like to put within the body of a blog so that more readers will see it. Do I have your permission?
Of Course.
Let me understand this “Crane Survey ” presentation. Mr. Becker is going to provide a crane on the site, have it extend its boom to 85 feet and this is suppose to simulate a billboard? I suspect a billboard they have in mind constructing would be in the vicinity of 30 foot square or larger. Seems like wasted effort to me. If Mr. Sherwood feels he is going to bring the billboard issue up every six months until approved, the term idiot slips into mind. As far as the library issue is concerned, the there advisory Boards have spoken and recommended denial of the sale., along with a large group of residents. It should be a simple task for the Council to listen and follow the wishes of the residents of Glendale. Perhaps we should be concerned and who actually makes the decision to table consideration of this issue at the workshop?
Thanks for your comments Joyce: It is interesting that the $1,000 offer is restricted to Glendale residents and doesn’t include the obvious Peoria neighborhood immediately north of Arrowhead Honda where the billboards will be right in their back yards. That would have been a quick $1,000 for one of those residents. What a game it is!!! Is a Peoria address a technicality that can be used to be cut out of the information loop? The attitude must be that it is OK to let someone wake up one morning and find an 8 story high billboard not far from his backyard. I spoke to someone today from that neighborhood who indicated Mark Becker’s letter re the public meeting at Arrowhead Elementary School, March 18th, 6:30 p.m. had not been received. What happened to the 500′ notice requirement – or is that only required for people with a Glendale address? That would reduce the notification area by half of its intended 500′ area because these proposed billboards are right along the Glendale/Peoria border. Those Peoria residents north of Arrowhead Honda are right on the border of Glendale, shop and pay taxes in Glendale, and were active in opposing billboards with line-of-sight photos depicting the proposed billboard view from their backyards. They attended and spoke, along with many local Glendale residents from Sahuaro and Cholla Districts, against the billboards at both P & Z and Glendale Council meetings. The push for billboards at the NW corner of Bell and the 101 has been going on since 2011. P & Z and Glendale City Council both have now said NO to Mr. Becker, and the Glendale neighborhoods and residents said NO. It sends up huge red flags when you have been told NO over and over again, but keep coming back with new creative marketing proposals for the same plan for billboards. There seems to be an obsession by Mr. Becker for billboards at Bell & SR101 where they aren’t wanted. Who is going to gain financially??? I wonder if that strip of land between Bell & Union Hills sitting inbetween Skunk Creek and the 101, bought after foreclosure by investors, is really worth much WITHOUT the approval for the billboards. I bet the first billboards allowed along the 101 between 51st Ave and the Entertainment District would make the value of that property skyrocket!!!!! Maybe that is why they keep coming back over and over again!!!!!
I may have missed something and would appreciate a clarification, please. Is this Becker billboard controversy the same Mark Becker that currently is Fire Chief in Glendale?
Fire Chief of Glendale is Mark Burdick.
thank you .. of course… brain cramp …
Upon reading about the postponement of the recommendations of denial of the proposed Foothills library sale and relocation by the three commissions, Arts, Library and Parks & Recreation, which were to be received by the city council at the March 3, 2015 city council workshop meeting, I immediately sent an e-mail to Mayor Weiers and the Glendale City Council Members.
Among other things, I asked what was meant by “sometime in the spring”.
I received a reply from Cholla District Council Member Lauren Tolmachoff within the hour. In part, it read:
“…Their recommendation will be presented at the Council Workshop on March 17 at 1:30pm. There would have to be a consensus of the council to move forward with the proposal and reject the recommendations of our citizens to pursue the sale of our Library. I do not believe that there will be a consensus to go ahead with the sale, however I encourage you to speak out to the Mayor and fellow Councilmembers and make your opinion known….”
I certainly intend to continue to have my voice heard in this matter, and I urge all of you to do the same.
After getting out of the Army in the mid-70’s, I lived in a Scottsdale apartment for several years. This was the period when Scottsdale was first implementing some pretty strict regulations and limits on billboards and commercial signage. Before that, it was pretty much the Wild West there in regards to billboards and such. Billboards grew like mushrooms on all the major streets, and store signs were huge, tall, and crowded to the very edge of sidewalks.
Frankly, Scottsdale looked like a dump back then. After the regulations were put in place and enforced, Scottsdale became a much cleaner and more attractive city.
This kinda makes me nervous about people trying to promote more and bigger billboards.
The thought occurs: Is Glendale the anti-Scottsdale? Scottsdale declined to accept a bad business deal for a stadium. Scottsdale cleaned itself up by passing and enforcing regulations against obtrusive signage. And Scottsdale decided to NOT close Palomino Library last year, despite the budget savings such a closure would have produced.
The Acting City Manager is from Scottsdale, isn’t he? Maybe we should try to keep him.
Agreed – and I believe our infamous Sahuaro Councilman Gary Sherwood – who has been pushing to get these billboards approved – was the only Council no vote when it came time to approve that interim Acting City Manager.
I believe Chavira and Aldama also voted “no.”
Has anyone brought up the fact that these electronic billboards emit a lot of light, especially at night? Sure, the height is an issue, but why not put up a billboard on these cranes and turn it on. Why not offer $1,000 to anyone that can see the light at night?
i guess Gary Sherwood was one of those kids raise by parents that never told him NO. Either that, or he kept nagging his parents until they gave him what he wanted. Fits the mould.