Photo by NeonGods.
Even though it’s one of the city’s most trafficked commercial areas, people sure can be awfully uppity about sensory additions around the Verizon Center. That said, one can only imagine the uproar that’s to come regarding the news that arena owner Ted Leonsis would like to install several new digital exterior displays on the side of the stadium.
Michael Neibauer discovered the plans inside a proposal that’s currently being considered by the D.C. Council, which was introduced by Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7):
The list of potential signs, per the bill, includes banners, digital displays, digital screens, video monitors, animated signs for commercial establishments located inside the arena, static canvas displays, moving images and “images projected onto the facade of the Verizon Center.” Francis said the signs would be a combination of digital and static banners, leased to building sponsors in addition to being used to promote Verizon Center events.
Each sign would require the approval of the Department of Transportation and the Office of Planning, to ensure it is not “objectionable with regard to vehicular traffic safety” and does not “adversely impact the character and integrity of the Verizon Center.”
This is hardly the first time that an organization has wanted to illuminate the area around the arena with a little more digital advertising. Last year, a consortium announced plans to place eight LED billboards around Gallery Place, a move that drew strident opposition from those who believed that the signs would lead to the installation of dozens of other such signs around the city. Of course, the concept also had its proponents, such as Dan Malouff at BeyondDC:
I don’t want the entire city to look like Times Square, but I don’t want the entire city to look like the street from Leave it to Beaver either. I want to live in a city that has stately, beautifully dignified places like Dupont Circle and 16th Street, and places like Times Square. When I think of Washington, DC, I don’t think it should be a city with any one character imposed throughout.
The bright lights part of Chinatown is a mere three blocks long. That’s three blocks in our entire gargantuan metropolitan area where we’ve collectively decided to have some fun with colorful nightlife. As much as I love marble and granite (and I do), I think it is entirely justified to take three tiny little blocks in one corner of the city and give those blocks a neon character.
Malouff makes a good point that great cities always feature diverse spaces, including flashy ones. And many arguments against the commercialization of Chinatown ring somewhat hollow on their surface, especially since the neighborhood is already, well, quite commercialized: there are a whole bunch of ads already up in the vicinity, notably ones at the corner of 7th and H Streets NW — not to mention the huge banners and the big neon Verizon sign which hang on the side of the Phone Booth. (And, honestly, if you move in next door to a sports stadium, shouldn’t you realize what you’re getting in to?)
But Leonsis’ plans appear to be in for a fight — Neibauer reports that the Stop the Billboard folks will fight the plans again. What do you think about the proposal?
