Practical application of USSC’s Penn State study helped Mercer Signs obtain variances The following article originally appeared in the July 1999 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. By Wade Swormstedt Nearly four years ago, the United States Sign Council (USSC) embarked on an ambitious study with the Penn State Transportation Institute. Signs of different […]
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When the Proposed International Zoning Code Threatened the Sign Industry
Code-development authorities unwittingly imperiled the sign industry The following article originally appeared in the October 1997 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. An update appears on this website at http://signreference.org/2000/01/11/zone-defense/ By Bill Dundas When Signs of the Times magazine received an alarming fax from the United States Sign Council’s Executive Director Andrew D. Bertucci at […]
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Illegally Disguising Taxes as Sign-Permit Fees in Texas
Supreme Court Decision Costs Houston More than $2 million The following article originally appeared in the July 1995 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. By Richard Rothfelder On August 26, 1992, A Texas judge held that the City of Houston was unconstitutionally assessing the off-premise sign industry with excessive permit fees. The judgment in Harris […]
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When Your On-Premise Sign is Only Visible from One Direction
The following article originally appeared in the April 1992 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. By Bill Collins A landmark argument, carefully crafted to show signage’s benefit to a community, has successfully been made in its first attempt. Not only will Germantown, TN, allow Pier 1 Imports to erect a second sign that’s visible […]
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Is a Sign Company an Advertising Service?
Of course it is, state the authors. But as happened in a recent South Dakota case, the question can only be answered by constructing a carefully worded argument. The following article originally appeared in the November 1987 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. By R. James Claus and Karen Claus The question of whether a […]
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Sign Codes and the Need for Advocacy
The following article originally appeared in the September 1983 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. By R. James Claus (Part one of a speech given at the Eight-Sheet Outdoor convention in San Francisco.) Introduction The future of the eight-sheet industry has been, and will continue to be, shaped by the development of sign codes. […]
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The Economic Impact of a Proposed Street Graphics Control Ordinance
This article was originally published in the April 1977 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. The article concerns a proposed sign code in Madison, WI. By Dr. R. James Claus and Nancy Romer In doing an economic-impact study, the technique of cost-benefit analysis often is used. That is, one discusses all the available benefits […]
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Some Policy Considerations For Sign Legislation
Signs and Their Functions By Dr. R. James Claus This article originally appeared in the August 1973 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. It’s appropriate to offer some elementary information about signs and to define some of the more common terms to be found in the literature on signage. Because controversies over banning billboards, for […]
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