What do corporate donors want? Sidewalk Billboards!

With corporate money flooding in to elect certain candidates to City Council, it’s worth taking a moment to ask why? What exactly do the corporate special interests hope to gain from spending tens of thousands of dollars to deluge us with negative mailers and deceptive social media ads in the last days of the campaign?

Corporations don’t spend that kind of money without looking at the ROI – Return on Investment. So what do they expect in return? Pliable council members who will approve corporate projects – like Sidewalk Billboards. Culver City’s long-standing tradition & rules banning billboards and bright flashing ads were recently overturned (thanks Albert Vera). Now council is rushing to approve billboards (calling them “Digital Kiosks”) throughout the city, just 8 days before the election.

Where will they put the sidewalk billboards?

Corporations could put these billboards on private property. That is not the plan though – they want Culver City to hand over blocks of public space for their privately owned advertising business: Town Plaza downtown, sidewalks throughout the city – public spaces where people currently enjoy a stroll, walk to school, or hang out with friends will be cluttered with advertising kiosks taller than a refrigerator. The digital screens will flash bright ads & light up the surroundings, and create dangerous distractions for drivers & pedestrians where foot traffic is critical to local businesses.

It’s obviously difficult to sell the public on eyesores, especially ones lighting up Town Plaza in colorful corporate light day & night, so billboard companies tout free advertising for public events and bus schedules. But if our goal is public education and Culver City promotions, why not make an app and reach a wider audience on their phones? Smartphone ownership rates are higher than the literacy rate in California – so quite literally everyone who encounters a kiosk already has a more functional option in their pocket.

How long will we be stuck with these?

An individual or business owner would never sign a 5 or 7 year mobile phone contract – but these billboard owners want that and more – 10 or 20 years if they can get a council to agree. Such long term leases are extremely valuable to corporations as they can bundle & sell them to other corporations. They know the technological lifespan of a digital screen is much shorter than the lease, so once they’re in place, the “upgrades” can come:

  • Audio & video ads

  • Voice & facial recognition

  • Location tracking

  • Targeted ads for people who simply walk by with a cell phone

That last item is already a concern as billboard owners have been accused of selling location data to private companies & the government. The public will bear the costs of short sighted city council decisions.

Which candidates want these kiosks littering our city?

If you follow the money to PACs like “Our Culver City” (the corporate copycat of Our Culver designed to confuse voters), you’ll find that the hundreds of thousands of corporate dollars being spent in this election are decidedly NOT flowing to Our Culver’s endorsed candidates.

Council candidates who want to fight the corporate takeover of Culver City are not going to be on the receiving end of corporate PAC money – it will be going to candidates corporations can count on. Our Culver is a grass roots community driven organization and we just don’t have the kind of money needed to counter all the false claims and negative ads.

But we do believe in a Culver City for everyone, not just corporations, and our City Council should believe in the people, too. Your vote is the one thing more powerful than a corporate checkbook. Read our voter guide and return your ballot today.

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Oil & real estate money is backing Vera, Renteria & Wisnosky Stehlin