Monday, April 15, 2013

Electronic Billboards are Coming to Dunwoody

Despite legal action and community fights, Dunwoody is about to receive electronic billboards all over the city.

In fact, many Dunwoody-area businesses have already started using them for advertising.


Ta-daaaaa!  (Gotcha!!!)
Miniature billboards such as the one above found in SOHO Office in Orchard Park are the brainchild of Chuck Renfroe, an advertising and traditional billboard specialist who found a way to place billboard advertising at a level where consumers will see it, without violating zoning ordinances or pissing off neighborhoods.

My first reaction, one day, when I stopped off to check my mail, was, "Hey wow!  What is that???"  The little screen was captivating and it sat discreetly on the service counter at the back of SOHO Office.  Apparently, a number of brick-and-mortar storefronts are hosting these billboards and the buzz is growing.


I immediately snapped the two pictures above, went straight home, blew off my "to do" list and got right on the phone to Chuck to learn more.  Chuck has mini billboards all over the North Atlanta metro region with rates and packages affordable for anyone.

In fact, I rented space in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs myself, almost on the spot.


Contact Chuck at dunwoodybillboards.com for information on how to create an advertisement for his billboard network, or to host a billboard in your establishment.  Tell him I sent you and I showed him some love on the DWG blog!

1 comment:

Steve Barton said...

Adrienne: I love those little billboards, too!

Please come on over and see the project in my backyard after reading this:

Do you have an opinion about bike lanes in Dunwoody? Pro or con or mixed, I invite you to come see the sidewalk project behind my house on Womack Road to see what our city council’s devotion to bike lanes can cause.

The sidewalk project started on March 19th. Yesterday on April 22d when the contractor started pouring curbs we were able to see that all the clearing and site prep and work for the last month has been to widen the street for bike lanes. We knew that the project included road widening and I appeared before the city council asking them to give us the sidewalk without the road widening. I said at the time that it would save money and now we know that for sure.

Behind our house is the widest part of Womack Road. When DES was built, a third lane, a turn lane was painted into the road – there was already enough asphalt. Drop-off drivers use that turn lane for a half hour or less every school morning. When the city decided to add a sidewalk on the north side of Womack from Lakeland Woods Ct to the sidewalk at Oakhurst Walk, the “complete streets” program kicked in. A complete street in our city includes sidewalks on both sides and bike lanes on both sides. The widest part of Womack Rd is not wide enough for three full lanes and two bike lanes. With no curb already built and plenty of city right-of-way, the sidewalk project was planned to include road widening of at least 5 feet.

The picture shows the project area on Womack Road looking east.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/109944599259155096953/posts/AdF1kLF2vF2

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c91rnza12xieffl/IMAG0074.jpg

Nutty, hunh?!

Pro:

· City is committed to “complete streets” and wants to be consistent.
· The many bicyclists who currently comfortably and safely bike this section will now have great elbow room.
Cons:

· More expensive. They have been working a month just to widen the road. (some culvert work too, I'll concede that)
· Reduces quality of life of three families by reducing buffer width and bringing traffic closer to their back yards.
· Possibly more speeding. The project widens the widest section of the straightest road in the city; it is a section that already sees plenty of speeding.
· Will possibly attract unsafe driving behaviors. I am worried about what drivers will do during the before and after school times when the area is most congested with traffic. Give drivers a few more feet of asphalt to work with and maybe they will be trying to scoot around stopped cars, right in the vicinity of walking students and parents.

Right now before they knock down a bunch of bamboo behind my house to put in the sidewalk is when you can most easily see how unnecessary this road widening is. Come by and see. Call me at 770-639-7271 cell or 770-671-0863 home and I’ll come look at the project with you. Email is skbarton13 somewhere near gmail.com. I think the city council should have made an exception in this case IN MY BACKYARD (caps to show you I know this is in part a NIMBY issue) to their full commitment to bike lanes that are really exercise lanes. I want to know what you think.

-- Steve Barton