Billboards a blight upon the bay
11/27/13
Regarding “Sticker shock: HCAOG surprised by billboard removal costs” (Times-Standard, Nov. 23, Page A1), what is truly shocking, beyond the absurd price quoted for their removal, is the staggering audacity and insolence of this giant corporation in claiming that “the proposed removals violate constitutional statutes against illegal takings, and that neither Caltrans nor the commission have the authority to implement such a condition.”
In reality, CBS Outdoor, Inc. (a division of the media conglomerate CBS Corporation) has for decades been profiting from these billboards' visual pollution at the expense of public trust resources.