Las Vegas’ ordeal with risqué contents & mobile billboard parking
While mobile billboards are considered as the best format of outdoor advertising, a recent allegation regarding the mobility of trucks in the residential areas of Las Vegas with risqué content is causing an uproar in the area. Though safety regulations for mobile billboards were always a pain point for authorities, the recent ordinance proposed by the Las Vegas Mayor received significant support with majority favouring setting up regulations in its first reading, last week. If the law is approved, it will prohibit the parking of mobile billboards within the 500 ft. of single-family dwellings. The misdemeanour would be taken as a punishable offence with a fine of up to $1000 or imprisonment up to 6months.
Clark County had earlier made mobile billboard safety regulations effective from the beginning of 2020 due to numerous instances of unsafe manoeuvring and tipping of billboards in the wind. The law prohibits the functioning of large trailers exceeding the length of 32 feet and width of 8.5ft in the residential areas. Though it also mentions banning the parking of billboard trucks in the residential neighbourhoods, strict adherence to the law had been impossible due to the unclear boundaries in residential and commercial neighborhoods in Las Vegas.
What started it all?
East Las Vegas neighbourhood resident and a political science professor at UNLV, Martin Dean Dupalo, had noticed mobile billboards, advertising risqué contents cruising through the streets in his neighbourhood. He felt that it was utterly inappropriate to have those trucks meandering through a residential area which was already facing its shares of pains and crimes. At Dupalo’s insistence, the city Mayor brought out an ordinance that set a limit to the period for which vehicles can be parked in a residential area. The ordinance got approval in the first reading at City Council, much to the relief of Dupalo and his neighbours.
However, County Commissioner, Chris Giunchigliani, opines that bringing upon an ordinance on something that is already not permitted would cause several other repercussions. She even approached the legislature citing her concerns about the poor enforcement of mobile billboard regulations across the county earlier this year. The Commissioner had also pushed for a blanket ban on the trucks in the city permits citing complaints from the residents across the county. She felt that the trucks clog roads and spread risqué stuff upsetting the morale of the residential areas. However, her proposals were not introduced in the council, and her crusade against stricter enforcement is still going on.
Hope for a better community
The ordinance has already garnered a broad acceptance with the leading mobile billboard owners such as Big Traffic, quite supportive of placing strict guidelines for billboard industries across the county. Reiterating the opinions of majority residents, Dupalo also hopes for rules to be in place for the mobile advertising Las Vegas residential areas and views that parking regulations are the beginning steps for greater regulation.
He believes that after bringing upon the parking regulations in place, the next crusade would be to keep them out of the residential strips. He is of the firm opinion that the movement of the mobile billboards must be restricted outside the residential limits to have a safe neighbourhood.
Read More : Types of outdoor advertising Las Vegas
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