As of late, there has been a heavily debated bill here at the Senate regarding Billboards in Northern Arizona. Basically, billboard companies want the freedom to put billboards wherever they want while astronomers don't want billboards near their renown observatory. Supposedly the billboard light interferes with the ability to see the stars, and the observatory near Flagstaff is one of the best in the world.
Over the last week this bill has been a hot button issue, with most Democrats wanting to ban billboards within a 75 mile radius of the observatory while Republicans see no reason to do so. it was first considered much more of a "liberal issue" but around the office everyone seems to have a different opinion. During floor session, the argument went on for at least 30 minutes. It was said that the company's lobbyists negotiated to turn off all billboards between 11:00pm til the early morning. Democrats claim that there was no such mention of an agreement.
Personally, I side with the observatory. It's one of the leading facilities in the world that generates millions of dollars for the Arizona economy. Putting up a lot of billboards would completely interfere with the clearness of the sky and the ability to see stars and planets clearly. Earlier the Pages actually had an interesting discussion regarding the matter. Like I always say, there's never a dull moment here at the Senate.
I side with the observatory too. There are so many other spots to put billboards. I think the world will survive without billboards within a 75 mile radius of the observatory.
ReplyDeleteWell, first it is very interesting to see that there things which seem very easy going but can be problematic. I would have never thought about Billboards that it would create an issue in the Senate. Second, I also lean a bit with the observatory that if it is disturbing another important activity, then why should we insist. We can put Billboards somewhere far away from them. Billboards are for advertisements so this can be done in many other locations as well.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I am also curious if the towns along this stretch of highway have ordinances to deal with this. I am interested in local government and have always found the relationship between local governments and the state unique. The state interferes with the way local governments conduct business, but at the same time do not like it when the Federal government takes similar action on them.
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