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Law

Could Wall Billboards Be Coming Down? Seattle Settles Suit With Outdoor Advertiser.

Some of those giant ads on buildings in downtown Seattle may be coming down. The city sued outdoor advertising company, Total Outdoor,  charging it with violating the city’s sign ordinance.

Now, a settlement has been reached.

Seattle’s sign ordinance is a decade old and is meant to help beautify the city by limiting billboards. The city contended Total Outdoor defied the law by marketing space on the sides of buildings to corporate clients, such as Apple and T-Mobile.

The Seattle law only allows wall ads to be used to advertise the actual business establishment and, according to the city, the ads have to be for the sole use of the business.

Under the settlement, Total Outdoor will pay the city of Seattle $100 thousand dollars. And building owners will have to take more responsibility for compliance with the law.

“Be it a mom and pop store or the owner of a parking garage, they have to be the one that signs the permit application that says, in bold letters, that they now are  responsible," said Roger Wynne, Assistant City Attorney.

As for how soon those multi-story tall i phone 6 images will be disappearing, it’s hard to say. Wynne says city inspectors will be following up with building owners.

Interestingly, some of the ads have already been removed from view, but not because of the lawsuit.

A lot of the ads are on brick buildings facing surface parking lots and, as those parking lots have been turned into high rise buildings, the wall ad has disappeared as well.

Paula is a former host, reporter and producer who retired from KNKX in 2021. She joined the station in 1989 as All Things Considered host and covered the Law and Justice beat for 15 years. Paula grew up in Idaho and, prior to KNKX, worked in public radio and television in Boise, San Francisco and upstate New York.