A New Electronic Billboard Might Be Advertising Martinez

A new electronic billboard flashing different ads every six seconds is slated to replace the one that now advertises Martinez on the northern end of the Martinez Benicia Bridge on I680. If the City Council approves a deal with CBS Advertising, Inc. at its meeting on Wednesday, some of those messages will include advertisements for Martinez.

The billboard that people see when they come off of the Martinez Benicia Bridge heading toward Contra Costa County has been an interesting purveyor of messages over the years. The city has struggled with promoting itself since the 1980s, and the advertisements for the city have tended to reflect that struggle.

Drivers coming off the bridge see mostly the Shell Refinery tanks and operation, and many don’t realize that the Marina Vista exit leads to a downtown full of restaurants, recreation and shops. The question has always been, what can you put on a billboard to convince people that they should take the Marina Vista exit and visit the downtown?

The current agreement with CBS, made in exchange for allowing another nearby billboard that advertises various products, permits a change in message four times a year. But in practice, the billboard message changes more like once every two or three years. And few people are ever happy with its message.

The present message – “Martinez: Getting Ready For You” – has been criticized by some members of the City Council as sending a message that the city is not yet, in fact, ready for you.

Now CBS wants to move the billboard from its present location on a railroad easement to private property. It wants to change the paper billboard to an electronic one that changes messages many times a day.

The company has offered to let the city change its messages up to 24 times per year, and to include public safety messages, including Amber Alerts, as well. Because it’s electronic, changing the messages will be significantly simpler.

In addition, the city stands to receive a share of the money from the other advertisements, up to $160,000 per year.

“It’s a win-win for everybody,” said Planning Commissioner Donna Allen. “We want to make sure it’s open to everyone, not just to downtown events. It might be something in the schools, in the parks.”

The commission unanimously approved the billboard idea, and the council will consider it when it meets Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 525 Henrietta St.

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TODAY IN HISTORY (from Wikipedia):

1522 - The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.

1620 - The Pilgrims sail from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America.

1870 - Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.

1901 - Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

1972 - Munich Massacre: 9 Israel athletes taken hostage at the Munich Olympic Games by the Palestinian "Black September" terrorist group died (as did a German policeman) at the hands of the kidnappers during a failed rescue attempt. 2 other Israeli athletes are slain in the initial attack the previous day.

1995 - Cal Ripken Jr of the Baltimore Orioles plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking a record that stood for 56 years.

1997 - Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in London. Over a million people lined the streets and 2.5 billion watched around the world on television.