A proposed ordinance change before Miami City commissioners will allow an excessive number of LED billboards to saturate our beautiful downtown. While there may be potential monetary benefits to our City budget, these gains pale in comparison to the negative effects on our City's aesthetic appeal and reputation.

Miami cannot succumb to the overwhelming presence of billboards; we are not Times Square in New York, Piccadilly Circus in London, or the Shinjuku District in Tokyo.

The proposed illumination standards would allow HUGE 10,000-square-feet billboards to glow with an abusively high brightness of up to 5,000 nits. That would be twice as big (and nearly as bright) as the LED video display boards found in many Major League Baseball stadiums. An apartment across the street and directly facing the billboard would never have to turn on the lights again — the illumination from the billboard shining through the windows would make the inside of that apartment about 20,000 lux, or TWENTY TIMES as bright as sunlight on a clear day. Even blocks away, apartments facing the billboard would be unable to open their blinds or shutters without having the interior of their homes immediately illuminated as if all the lights were on.

Additionally, the proposed legislation would allow LED billboards to remain anchored to buildings during hurricanes, posing a significant safety hazard that cannot be justified.

This is a terrible ordinance, and we need our city leaders to scrap it.

Please sign this petition and tell our city leaders: I say "NO" to GIANT LED BILLBOARDS.