Downtown merchant Tracy Graziani spoke to Mansfield City Council on Tuesday night regarding the new North Central State College billboard on Main Street across from the carrousel.
“Imagine our shock and horror as business owners saw our beautiful area cheapened by a massive billboard,” stated Graziani. It’s not the billboard itself that bothers Graziani, but the fact that an advertisement that size is taking up the entire side of a building.
“The size and scale is completely inappropriate for a business district and an eye-sore to downtown,” complained Graziani, owner of Tog Loft studio at 41-B E. Fourth St. She acknowledged that there is no regulation on the content of the billboards in the community, but suggested the size and location should be restricted.
There are other large billboards in the downtown area, though they don’t appear as prominently as the one Graziani referred to. Downtown billboards range in size.
No one at Lind Outdoor Advertising, which posted the billboard, was available for comment on Wednesday.
“I would prefer that we didn’t have any billboards downtown, and all of the Fourth street businesses are in agreement with me,” said Graziani, presenting a petition with over 120 signatures collected in just 48 hours from downtown merchants and patrons who want the billboard removed.
“It’s frustrating as a business owner how many hoops I had to jump through just to get a little sign on my building, but they can just cover an entire building without any regulation,” explained Graziani. “I do pay a premium to have my business downtown and collectively we all pay a lot in rent and create jobs…”
“The issue you’re raising is unprecedented,” explained Law Director John Spon. “I know there are some regulations that exist statewide,” he said. “This is a little more complicated than meets the eye. It’s a painting on a billboard and what can be construed by one to be a billboard might be construed by another to be an expression of art…”
“It’s pretty clear a billboard installed it, sold the space…all of this was conducted by a company whose business is billboards,” responded Graziani.
Mayor Theaker invited Graziani to get the downtown merchants together to talk about the situation with the city engineer and building and codes manager.
