Blink, blink, blink - signs drive some to the brink

Times Square. Las Vegas. Security.

He noted that Lamar agreed to dim the Security billboard at dusk and turn it completely off at 11 p.m. in response to complaints.What do they have in common? High-tech, digital, brilliant LED billboards turning nighttime into day.Stewart said she's glad the light is off at night.LEDs, known for transforming neighborhood Christmas decorations into dazzling displays, are showing up more on billboards.But that use of the ultrabright, long-life, electronic lights isn't exactly neighborhood friendly.Barrett and several allies, including Dave Munger, president of the Council of Neighbors and Organizations, urged the El Paso County Commission on Tuesday to consider rules to prevent future LED billboards from being erected.A neighbor said she thought her cataract surgery had gone poorly when she got up in the middle of the night and saw the bright, flashing light of the sign near Bradley Road."The light shines right in my living-room window," Stewart said. "It blinks, and I see it all the time. Blink. Blink. Blink. Sometimes, it makes me mad."But that's the problem, said Larry Barrett of Scenic Colorado. Barrett is campaigning to get the LEDs banned in El Paso County, as they are in Colorado Springs and Denver.The LED billboards are owned by Lamar Outdoor Advertising, which has a network of hundreds of the digital boards nationwide."If we have our blinds open when it changes, it will make our balcony lighter," said Loyce Hoffman, who lives across the parkway in Sterling Pointe Apartments. "But we close our blinds at night. It doesn't bother me any.""It was a huge concession for us," Ward said.A two-sided LED billboard on Austin Bluffs Parkway, near Barnes Road, blinks every six seconds or so, flashing ads for a savings and loan, hot pizza, a church and new windows."Lamar isn't going to build any more LED signs until we get this straightened out," Ward said."It's an eyesore," said Rose Stewart, whose home in Security, along South Academy Boulevard, is near one of five new LED billboards in El Paso County.Companies are turning to the LED displays - despite huge price tags of $250,000 or so - because of their enhanced visibility and the memorable impact they make on motorists. They are hard to ignore.Most neighbors I talked to were similarly divided over the LED billboards. Some oppose them, while others grudgingly accept them."They were cooperative," she said. But she worries the outage is only temporary to appease neighbors.Read my blog updates?at gazette.com/blogs/sidestreetsAt the meeting, Lamar general manager Hal Ward agreed to discuss limiting future LED billboards.

Read my blog updates?at gazette.com/blogs/sidestreets