RSS FeedThreat Of Penn Quarter Light Pollution Looms Large
Ed. Note: The hearing referenced below scheduled for Monday, January 23 has been canceled.
It’s happening again. A business in Penn Quarter is thinking that bigger, brighter, and bolder is better for the neighborhood. Normally, this might be true but in this case allowing for lit displays unrestricted in size and subjectively regulated in brightness could result in areas surrounding the Verizon Center lit up like an over-the-top Christmas lawn display. Except that it might not just be during Christmas…it could be all year long. And, it wouldn’t be limited to a front lawn…it might be on the walls of the Verizon Center facing 7th Street, F Street, and 6th Street NW.
We’ve seen this story before in the spring of 2010 when a media company wanted to erect electronic signs on the side of a 7th Street condominium placing residents in a similar untenable situation where light pollution would demonstrably affect the quality of their homes and businesses. Direct sightlines exist from the Verizon Center into a number of condominiums, apartments, and historic buildings – for example, the Phone Booth can be seen directly from the U.S. Treasury building at 15th and G Street NW, almost one mile away. We’re not the only ones thinking that legislation coming before the D.C. Council [PDF] next Monday, January 23, allowing for large lit displays spells trouble for the character of the neighborhood.
The Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) released this e-mail summarizing the situation.
Councilmember Yvette Alexander has introduced a bill that will allow the Verizon Center to install up to nine lighted and animated exterior jumbotron billboards of any size and at any location on the Verizon Center, and exempt these billboards from the regulations that apply to all other billboards in the city.
The struggle to regulate and control billboards in the District has been going on since 1931, and most recently last year. There’s an ongoing effort to see that we have a reasonable, consistent, equitable, comprehensive, and citywide policy. There are also some who continue to look for (or create) loopholes to meet their specific, personal needs, regardless of the concerns of the community.
The District’s billboard policy must reflect the city’s unique status and character, and properly balance our historic and contemporary elements. It needs to be addressed by all of the stakeholders, not established unilaterally by the Verizon Center for its profit.
A growing number of organizations and individuals are concerned that this is bad legislation and a frightening precedent. Under this legislation, signs of any size and in any location (now and in the future) would only need a DCRA permit, and DCRA has a documented track record of not always properly handling such reviews and issuing of permits. A proper process must be followed to establish a sane and sensible citywide policy, and see it enforced.
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Comments
Forget about advertising. This city’s street lights are giant, insanely bright globes that aim down, up, and 360 degrees around. It is bright as day in my seventh floor apartment all night long. That is a much bigger problem, for a much greater portion of the city’s population, than a few neon signs. A simple reflector on the top of each street light would allow for the same light level on streets and sidewalks with much less power consumption and much less light pollution of neighboring buildings and the sky.
Kudos to pqresident for raising awareness of this item without the use of hyperbole like many of the anti-signage proponents. Take Anonymous 9:48 as posterchild for what’s wrong with the opposition with their statement “Meatballs sign has made Penn Quarter a laughingstock.”
I actually like Penn Quarter even more since the Meatballs sign went up.
Hey Paul, i guess thats not your home’s windows/views being blocked by the ILLEGAL Meatballs sign, as well as being swamped in pink light all night. Its easy to call someone a “posterchild” when your property values haven’t been reduced by 50% by the actions of a shady business. And the sign HAS made Penn Quarter a laughingstock, as people comment to us all the time on how it makes it look like some sort of cheap red-light district.
@Anonymous – so if PQLiving ran a poll that asked “is Penn Quarter presently a laughingstock?” you feel confident the answer would be “yes”. I’m quite confident it would be “no” by a landslide.
You can spin a poll question anyway you like to get an answer you want, so that’s an empty offer you’ve made. From your responses, you obviously don’t live on E Street and have not been adversely affected by the light pollution being generated by the sign like the rest of the residents on the block. So the real question is: Why are shady businesses allowed to destroy people’s home values with illegal and garish signs, and why are you so adament in defending it?
More signs and lights are in keeping with the character already established in this neighborhood. I support them wholeheartedly as long as they don’t expand from this square block.
Eric, where do you get your information that billboard “are in keeping with the character” of the neighborhood? If that’s the case, why stop them from expanding beyond this square block? The neighborhood reaches far beyond this square block. I suspect what you mean is, “As long as they don’t expand to where I live.”
Our billboard policy must reflect the city’s unique status and character and properly balance our historic and contemporary elements. Turning the area, which is a mixture of residential and commercial uses, into a mini “Times Square” is ludicrous and not part of the original planning scheme.
It’s not just residential owners, who never envisioned such a spectacle, who oppose this. Vida Fitness, a major tenant of the Verizon Center building, is opposed to it because the billboards would cover much of their window space. David von Storch, president and founder of Vida Fitness, sent out an email today to Vida members opposing the billboards. He says:
“As a VIDA Member, you need to be aware that one of Verizon Center’s planned Jumbotrons would literally cover the vast majority of VIDA’s leased space. One of the important amenities that we offer is floor-to-ceiling glass windows and the natural light is very much a part of what makes VIDA so enjoyable. ”
What makes this proposed bill particularly reprehensible is that it was agreed to and crafted quietly and without input from any stakeholders. Vida Fitness, a MAJOR tenant of the building, was never approached, and learned about it from other sources. Other businesses were not approached, such as Hotel Monaco, whose guests would be bathed in bright LED light. Just close the curtains and cut the views, right? Nearby condominium owners were not approached, permanent residents who would have to endure this forever.
There are laws governing the use of billboards in the District, but these exceptions without any limits is outrageous, gives preferential treatment and stinks of something shady (not unknown to the District government).
If neon signs could reduce property values by 50%, I’d be putting them up all around my apartment building and slashing my rent in half.
Childish and ignorant comments at 636pm and 911pm: one from a self-interested renter who doesn’t understand how real estate and property values work, the other from someone who doesnt even live in PQ.
After writing to voice my opposition to this bill, I received a response from a Council member who had just learned that Monday’s hearing has been cancelled. A quick review of the calendar on the Council’s website confirms that the hearing is no longer listed for Monday. No word about a new date. From the Council website:
Verizon Center Graphics and Entertainment Act
Date:
January 23, 2:00 PM
Address:
Room 412, John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
PLEASE NOTE: HEARING HAS BEEN CANCELED (1/19/12)
B19-517, the “Verizon Center Graphics and Entertainment Act of 2011”
I would like to make a firm offer for Anonymous’ condo that has been affected by the Meatballs sign. You say the property value has dropped by 50%, so I feel like we have some negotiation room between the actual property value and what you feel the property value is post-Meatballs sign. To be clear, I will immediately resell the condo after purchasing it from you, but you’ll get more than the 50% value that you feel it is worth now. Offer stands for anyone else, including anyone who feels more signs on the Verizon Center will lower their property value.
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We already have light pollution in the form of Meatball’s illegal sign, which has destroyed the property values of people’s homes and made Penn Quarter a laughingstock. Now take that to an exponential level at Verizon Center, and you can kiss another huge chunk of our home values goodbye.