Almost two years ago the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, ordered the downsizing or removal of all billboards and most other forms of commercial advertising in the city.

While many business people at the time worried that the ban on billboards would negatively affect businesses, those concerns have largely proved groundless and the city has taken on a revived look. Where signs once covered up historic buildings, the original facades have been refurbished and allowed to shine as they were meant to be seen.

Time Magazine has filed this report on Sao Paulo since the billboard ban went into effect. Could cities here in the U.S. learn a lesson from South America's largest city?

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KCET-TV presents "Billboard Confidential"

SoCal Connected, a program on KCET, southern California's community television station, has produced a two-part series called "Billboard Confidential" that takes an in-depth look at the outdoor advertising industry in the city of Los Angeles.

Reporter Vince Gonzales and producer Karen Foshay put the spotlight on the new wave of digital billboards popping up all over L.A., and investigate the relationships between the billboard industry and city hall. The piece also touches on a recent proposal by the state of California to sell ads on official signs in the right of way (see story below).

Scenic America President Kevin Fry was among those interviewed for the series. 

Click for part one of the series, part two, and be sure to read "Behind the Billboards," which provides some background information on the origin of the series.

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Scenic America responds to California's proposal to sell ads on official signs

It has been reported that the state of California is proposing to permit the use of the state’s 674 official electronic message boards for commercial messages, via an exclusive agreement with Clear Channel Outdoor.

The signs are located on the right of way of state and federal roads, and are currently used only for official messages posted by the state department of transportation, Caltrans. Official signs of this type have never been used in this manner before, in California or any other state.

Scenic America believes that this proposal is catastrophic for the citizens of California. We have prepared a position paper on the proposal, and it is available for download as a PDF here. 

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Scenic America featured in The New York Times

Dan Barry's weekly New York Times column 'This Land' was recently titled "A Place Just Like Every Other Place. Only Not," and featured an interview with Kevin Fry, Scenic America president, and Brad Cownover, Scenic America's director of conservation services. Click here to view the article.

Fry and Cownover accompanied Barry on a tour of a suburban landscape near Washington, D.C., and discussed the impact of the built environment on the collective human condition. Barry juxtaposes the unique, unforgettable American landscapes he has seen with the "familiar and hideous commercial stretches that all but dare us to guess the state we are in."

Supplementing the column is a fantastic slide show narrated by Kevin Fry.

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