PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia’s municipal buildings, libraries, recreation centers and even vehicles such as trash trucks could soon bear advertising that officials say could raise tens of millions of dollars.
Managing Director Richard Negrin told The Philadelphia Inquirer (https://bit.ly/1stH5uQ ) that the city’s call for proposals to manage the sale and placement of ads on municipal properties has drawn a response from what he called at least a dozen “major players” in the advertising business.
Negrin said it would be hard to estimate how much money the city could make until “the scope of the proposals” is known.
“It’s going to be at least in the millions of dollars,” he said. “Certainly every dollar helps.” He said ads could appear on city property by the end of the year.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has displayed ads on city buses, trains and stations for years.
Critics, however, have been fighting for years to limit the number of signs and billboards, calling them a blight on the cityscape. Mary Tracy, executive director of Scenic Philadelphia, called the plan “unbelievable.”
“We’re really turning on its head all the great progress we’ve made in curtailing advertising and commercialism,” she said. “It’s very disheartening to live in a city that so little values its aesthetic treasures that it would sell them off.”
The city’s request for proposals lists 58 of the 134 rec centers and 45 of 54 libraries as potential sites, including the central library, as well as the municipal services building and another building next to LOVE Park and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Tracy said advertising is supposed to be banned from the parkway, and library and recreation center advocates were extremely “protective” of their buildings.
Negrin said the city would be “incredibly sensitive” in regard to historic buildings and cautious about ad content around libraries and rec centers, but the city didn’t want to limit potential advertisers in the initial phases.
The city won’t accept ads for alcohol, tobacco or firearm products and sexually explicit or political ads would be barred. The city said more than 4,000 city vehicles would be eligible for ads, but health department cars wouldn’t accept ads for food and drinks, pharmaceuticals, or medical services.
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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, https://www.inquirer.com
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