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Dear Mayor and City Council Members,
Quoting U. S. Small Business Administration research, 89% of businesses that fail do so because of improper signs! Stated differently, good signs give a business an almost 90% probability of success.
Is your City helping your local businesses, or unintentionally hurting their chances of survival?
Outdoor business signs in front of your city's businesses are the least costly means of advertising available to a business over time. It is the most targeted advertising a business can do according to the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which also states that 85% of a business' sales usually come from within a 5 mile radius. Local business!
Proper signs constantly advertise a business to a potential customer who frequents the area where the business is located. And with 18.6% of the entire
US population moving each year, your city's business signs will be constantly seen by MANY new potential customers.
We are told by our suppliers that we are the largest custom sign company in the
Metroplex. Because of this we talk to a lot of people who are contemplating forming new businesses. It is shocking the number of businesses that decide NOT to locate in a particular city when they hear about that city's sign restrictions, particularly the larger companies.
For instance, how important is a free-standing
pylon sign to a business? McDonald's Restaurants says that simply changing a monument sign in front of one of their stores to a pylon sign increases their store's business by 15%. A
Whataburger that was unhappy with their new store's volume removed their brand-new pylon sign and installed one 40% larger and taller. The store's volume increased 23% the day after installation, and sales have exceeded the previous month for more than 5 years now. Both the business and City revenues grow each year.
The SBA says that an
LED Message Center increases store volume 15 - 150%.
Having the right signs helps a business survive by bringing higher sales volume.
Most businesses cannot survive with 15% less business.
The dual purposes of a good business sign are identification and communication.
City Signs Ordinances can doom a business, and stifle growth and revenue in a city.
The
US Supreme Court has consistently upheld that:
Sign Ordinances cannot restrict a businesses constitutional guarantee of unfettered free-speech without narrowly-defined reasoning. Even the colors of a sign, in the case of a registered trademark, have been protected by the Court as free-speech in several cases.
Different aesthetic and/or safety standards cannot be applied to different classes of sign users. For example, a 50 square foot lighted pylon sign 10 feet tall cannot be allowed for a school sign, but disallowed for a church sign without exceptional overriding circumstances.
Houston's total sign ordinance was voided by the Court because it differentiated between governmental and business signs. Houston businesses were then allowed by the Court to erect ANY sign without City restrictions.
Detached signs (i.e. pole signs, pylon signs, monument signs) are Real Property. The use of an existing sign cannot be denied by governmental authority without just compensation.
Sign Design Safety Issues
According to Larsen Transportation Institute at
Penn State University studies, signs that are too small to be read easily under existing driving conditions
cause traffic congestion and accidents, in addition to not helping a business become successful. (Some cities have MINIMUM letter-size restrictions.)
Also, monument signs can potentially block traffic visibility and cause accidents at driveways and intersections. Moving them away from the street makes them more dangerous and less effective unless they are significantly larger so the lettering can be larger.
Externally lighted signs (ie: floodlights) cause traffic congestion and accidents on dark or rainy days, and at night
Monument signs, because of their smaller lettering when compared to pole signs and pylon signs, cause traffic congestion and accidents, as verified by a different
Penn State study. They are actually more distracting and less effective than pylon signs.
Electronic Message Centers do not cause traffic accidents or congestion according to two studies by
Tantala Associates, a consulting-engineering firm.
For a copy of the study email
jgolimowski@oaaa.org.
Walgreen's Drug Stores changed all the changeable-copy signs they were allowed (they have one in front of every store) to electronic message centers because of the rash of injuries their employees suffered changing the plastic-letter copy with a 16' long pole every day.
An excellent place to learn about the critical, mechanical, aspects of sign design necessary for a safe and successful sign is at
www.usscfoundation.org/USSCGuidelineStandards.pdf. You should read this before creating sign ordinances; there will be less congestion and fewer accidents in business districts.
Businesses in your City will be more successful, also!
Your Vision of the Future
Many cities in this area seem intent on eliminating future pole or pylon signs in business districts, in favor of monument signs, despite studies that show that this reduces a business' sales by over 15%, particularly if older competitors still have the more visible signs, and increases accident rates. To eliminate all of the old signs, to level the playing field for businesses the city must buy them from businesses at fair-market-value.
A lighted monument sign encased in brick cost a business twice as much as a pole sign 50% larger.
Unless a city is also eliminating telephone poles, power poles, parking lot lights, street signs and street lights eliminating tall signs does little to "reduce downtown clutter." It does, however, force businesses to build closer to the street, and severely trim trees and shrubbery, so that their stores are more visible with the loss of the taller signs.
Changing the size of allowed signs, or height restrictions, or set-backs from public property does nothing to "reduce downtown clutter" but does penalize the competitiveness of all new businesses. To require all old signs to conform the city must buy them from businesses at fair-market-value.
LED lighting is the future, because of energy-efficiency, yet many cities are trying to restrict it. Somehow they feel that a sign that automatically changes its message is a safety hazard, even in the face of studies that this is not true. Even if a sign were to change its message as often as every 15 seconds the only people on a business street who will view two changes are stopped for a traffic light. This does not create an aesthetic problem, other than these new signs being more visible than old-style signs. Give businesses a break!
We are Willing to Help You
If you consider this information helpful, we will provide you with any support we can.
We will even attend your City planning meetings.
We "...don't have a dog in the hunt." No matter what your cities sign restrictions are, we will still make your city's business signs. But we do want our signs to help our customers become successful.
Credentials of Bill Watson:
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Formed 5 successful retail corporations (I understand what businesses need to enable them to be successful)
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30 years in the sign industry (I am knowledgeable of sign ordinances through-out the
US) Semi-retired.
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Versed in the legality of sign laws (Commercial freedom-of-speech)
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Versed in sign-safety issues.
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Texas licensed Master Electrician and Texas licensed Master Sign Electrician.
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Texas licensed Electrical Contractor and Texas licensed Sign Contractor.
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Electronic Message Center knowledgeable.
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Expert witness.
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University Graduate (BBA)
Credentials of Signs Manufacturing Corporation:
Established 1979. Signs Manufacturing makes more than lighted and unlighted
business signs. We manufacture, install and service church signs, school signs, apartment signs, park signs, governmental signs, architectural signs, etc.
Interior signs as well as
exterior signs.
We manufacture
road signs and
building signs including channel letter signs (lighted with
neon or
LED), neon signs, wall sign cabinets, pole signs,
pylon signs, monument signs, message centers, plastic and metal lettering, plaques and more.
We perform metal, plastic, brick and masonry construction.
Sincerely,
Contact us for additional details. |
