Company seeking to place digital billboard in Elizabeth
By Christine Haines
chaines@yourmvi.com
A digital billboard company is proposing a partnership with Elizabeth Borough that would provide the community with a percentage of the advertising profits.
“You’ve got a bridge and somebody owns the property 5 feet on either side of it, and that’s all we need,” said Don Hammel of Right Light.
He said the digital billboards are high definition and in great demand with advertisers. Hammel said Right Light installed billboards in Robinson Township a few weeks ago and he fully expects to sell out the advertising space, generating revenue for the host community at no expense to the municipality.
“There’s no risk to you. We put the signs up and you reap the benefit,” said Jeff James, who is also with Right Light.
The deal would give the community one of the advertisements on each billboard to use as it sees fit.
“It becomes a community messaging board. We believe that makes people look at the sign more,” Hammel said.
Council president Chad Rager pointed out that the main roads and the bridge are owned by PennDOT, so state approval would be needed. Hammel said he would be glad to drive around the community with borough officials to spot the best locations for the billboards if it’s a project the borough would be interested in doing.
Hammel said he would like to sign a 20- to 30-year agreement with the borough to justify the investment.
In other matters, police Chief William Sombo said he was notified Tuesday afternoon by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office that the department needs to prepare for video arraignments and hearings from the police station. Council authorized the purchase of two microphone-enabled web cameras to be installed on police computers.
“We will be holding hearings via video. Right now we have zero cameras,” Sombo said. “I need to get something to be ready for traffic hearings.”
To read the rest of this story, please see a copy of Wednesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at https://e.monvalleyindependent.com.
