Billboards on Citi Field as seen from a highway. Image Credit: Google Maps

Advertising companies sought to erect outdoor billboards in the Willets Point neighborhood. Mucho Media and other property owners in Queens’ Willets Point neighborhood sought to construct large advertising billboards on their property. For safety and aesthetic reasons, the City denied or ordered the removal of billboards in the Willets Point neighborhood. These actions were pursuant to the City’s zoning law that prohibits commercial billboards within two hundred feet of an arterial highway. (more…)

New City regulations would substantially limit billboards near highways. Clear Channel, the owner of large billboards located near arterial highways, and Metro Fuel LLC, the owner of smaller illuminated advertising signs on building fronts and poles close to the street, sued the City, challenging its outdoor advertising restrictions. The companies claimed that the restrictions limiting the location and illumination of commercial billboards and smaller signs, as well as the strict permitting and registration procedures for existing outdoor signs, were unconstitutional and infringed on their commercial speech. They further claimed that the City enforced its regulations unevenly and that the regulatory scheme was full of exceptions. Metro Fuel specifically claimed that the City allowed panel advertising on street furniture, kiosks, and lampposts, while forbidding similar Metro Fuel panels attached to buildings and poles.

District Court Judge Paul Crotty detailed the history of outdoor advertising, concluding that companies had long ignored or failed to comply with City regulations. The companies had challenged enforcement efforts in court, waited until the City’s efforts at enforcement subsided, or waited for a new, less vigilant administration. Judge Crotty found that the companies’ efforts had paid off because of the sporadic enforcement and the City’s grandfathering of non-compliant signs. (more…)