Advertising: Battle of The Signs

Battle of The Signs

Should billboards stand in the way of progress? The question faces the frustrated citizens of traffic-choked Houston, where much needed $800 million highway improvement projects planned for the next five years have been indefinitely delayed because of a bizarre dispute among the city, the state of Texas and the local billboard industry. The state's highway commission, which had planned the construction, needs to move 123 billboards along various routes to new locations. But that would violate a tough antibillboard law enacted by the city council in 1980. The ordinance prohibits the erection of any new billboards in Houston, which already has...

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