Pattye Benson

Community Matters

BAN the Digital Billboard in Paoli Yard Signs + 3,100 Signatures on Change.org Petition

 

The BAN the Digital Billboard in Paoli yard signs arrived and are finding homes primarily on private property until post-Election (Otherwise, they are lost in the sea of political campaign signs).

The allocation of the lawn signs began with GoFundMe donors living in single family homes. One such location is a beautiful property on Grubb Road in Malvern – the owners support the ban the digital billboard campaign and requested a sign. I delivered and placed the sign at the driveway’s edge; a perfect location with no political signs in sight. Sadly, the BAN yard sign was stolen from this private home three days later. Troubled by the action but undeterred, the owners have requested two more BAN signs.

The Change.org petition continues to gain daily supporters – to date there are 3,100 signatures of those who oppose the digital billboard. In addition to local residents expressing their opposition, I am fielding calls from Ardmore to Villanova. Many residents are concerned that if Tredyffrin Township supervisors fall to the demands of Catalyst Outdoor Advertising CEO Thaddeus Bartkowski, it will simply be a matter of time before the digital billboards dot the entire Main Line.

Remember, this proposed welcome to Tredyffrin Township monument is actually two 20-ft. high blinking billboards with a reflecting pool to be located on the small site where the Clockworks building currently stands.

Although certain township supervisors would have the public believe otherwise, there is no financial gain for Tredyffrin Township and its taxpayers if this proposed digital billboard is approved. Township solicitor Vince Donohue stated at the last supervisors meeting that this proposed digital billboard is income neutral. Catalyst is not purchasing the property (no transfer tax) he is leasing the property — no additional money coming to the township for this digital billboard!

People ask me what they can do to help … write an email to the Board of Supervisors, BOS@tredyffrin.org, sign the Change.org petition, contribute to GoFundMe and most importantly,share the digital billboard information with neighbors and friends and plan to attend Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors meeting (when the digital billboard appears on the agenda).

Please contact me at tredyffrincommunitymatters@gmail.com for a yard sign if your home or business is in a traffic visible location. Also email if you would like a pdf of the BAN the Digital Billboard flyer for distribution.

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  1. Can you ask that residents from Ardmore to Villanova sign the petition? They are fighting for their communities too because if it happens here, it paves the way for Digital Billboards all the way to Philly. Good idea to place yard signs In every town down Lancaster Ave.

    1. Yes, I agree if Tredyffrin Township gets a digital billboard — it sets the wheels in motion for the entire Main Line. Are these blinking distractions really what we want to see up and down Lancaster Ave? The signs are working – I have received many phone calls from locals who had no idea what was going on. Two homeowners on Maple Avenue (off of Rt. 252) called when they saw the signs — I told them that the township said that 39 homeowners on Maple and Russell were notified before the last BOS meeting. Sadly, these homeowners did not receive any township letter and they are the closest (and I suggest the most impacted) to this proposed digital billboard. Now that they know what’s going on, they have yard signs and spreading the word. Please, please continue to tell your neighbors and friends, the entire community needs to know about this proposal!!

      1. I read earlier where signs were stolen from a home owners property.

        One of my signs was also stolen. It was not near or in a cluster of campaign signs, but sat on the side of a high traffic road, not on private property, by itself.

        I don’t know why someone would take it.

        1. That is very troubling and sad. I suggest that whomever is stealing the signs best be careful, many homeowners have security cameras on their property. Such a small minority of community members support this blinking digital welcome to the township monument – that the roads leading to the thief (or thieves) may not be too long.

        2. That’s funny because I haven’t talked to one person who supports the blinking digital billboard.

          I’ve talked to a very few who say they don’t care one way or the other ——-which is sadder to me than the signs being stolen——-but no one who supports this so that leaves very few who would care to steal the signs.

          1. I actually spoke to one person after the last BOS meeting who didn’t want to take a flyer because he supported the digital billboard. When I joked that he must be the only one in 100,000, he laughed and said that his wife was another one who supported it. For all I know he worked for Catalyst or was related to him or the owner of the Clockworks property.

            Another interesting aside is that I was told that Catalyst CEO Thaddeus Bartkowski III had owned property in Willistown but has deeded the property to the mother of his child. I’m sure that the eruption of the BAN signs is annoying to family members … just sayin’

  2. Pattye, in an earlier post did you tell us that the BOS were going to sell back to Catalyst unused free advertising? if so, aren’t the supervisors leveraging pay to play in the billboard deal?

    1. I want to be clear about this — apparently the selling back of unused advertising to Catalyst to make money is something contained in the draft settlement agreement that the public has not seen.

      One of the supervisors Trip Lukens talked about the selling back of advertising on his personal Facebook page. The reason that this surfaced was Mr. Lukens was attempting to discredit the validity of the Change.org petition in which I stated that there was no additional revenue (to the township) for the digital billboard. Subsequent to Mr. Lukens Facebook post, the township solicitor Vince Donohue stated at the last BOS meeting that the proposed digital billboard was “revenue neutral”.

      In thinking about the proposed digital billboard and the selling back of unused advertising to make money (as stated by supervisor Lukens) I guess I hadn’t looked at it as a form of “pay to play” ….. hmm, interesting.

      1. Calling it “Pay to play” is a big stretch. That would only apply if the supervisors benefitted from it personally. In this case, it would be the township (and taxpayers) benefitting. I’m not in favor of the billboard but it does our effort no credit by making baseless claims against the supervisors.

        1. Agree with you and we need to focus on what we do know and not speculate. However, as more people find out that this digital billboard discussion has been going on for months and months in the township without any knowledge by the public, it has left many folks with questions (and with some speculations). Although I am but nature not a suspicious person, when you find out something as significant as two 20 ft. digital billboards and a reflecting pool is in the ‘negotiating’ states with a draft settlement agreement and no one knows anything about it — it really does cause one pause!

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