Billboard flap gains steam in Ridley Park

RIDLEY PARK The boroughs I-95 billboard flap was in full flapping mode Tuesday as residents in the area of Hetzel Park awoke to find a massive piece of shredded vinyl whipping about the 111-foot structure.

I came down around 6:30 this morning to get breakfast, looked out my patio doors and saw a big section of it blowing in the wind, said Stull Road resident Michael OBrien. Thankfully, part of it got hung up on the top of the billboard or it could have easily blown across six lanes of I-95.

One of the chief critics of the boroughs decision to locate the billboard next to Hetzel Park, OBrien said the mishap illustrated the potential danger of placing a massive steel structure in a residential neighborhood.

I think it reinforces what we have been saying all along that it is unsafe to have something like this in the middle of a childrens park, he said.

Owned by Berks County-based Lamar Advertising Co., the billboard has a south facing electronic display and a traditional, or static, facade on its north side. Constructed last August and September, it is about 60 feet wide and went live in early November in spite of protests from many who live in its shadow.

The piece of vinyl that tore away did not feature an ad but rather a generic sky scene thought to be more appealing than the underbelly of the billboard.

I know that some people will want to roll this into a large snowball instead treating it for what it is, an individual, isolated maintenance issue, said Borough Manager DawnMarie Human. We handled it just like we would if we had discovered a detached piece of vinyl on a house or business. We gave them a courtesy call.

Lamars general manager, David Peacock, sent one of his crews down to remove the damaged sections of the sign. We dont know if it was just the wind or a piece of faulty vinyl, he said.

Hetzel Road resident Bob Webber estimated the vinyl and at least one piece of metal started to come loose at about 3 a.m.

Whether it exists in a safe manner or not is certainly (a concern) but people here are irate because they dont feel the thing should have built here in the first place, said Webber, whose property is located about 50 yards from the base of the billboard. Continued...

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Billboard flap gains steam in Ridley Park