TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! The Sprint Center is above the law!!! Huge corporations don't need to comply with Kansas City's anti-billboard ordinance!!!

A few weeks ago I was driving East and I noticed a disturbing sight. A monster billboard was glowing in downtown and its light could be seen all the way to the Westside. As I moved closer, I saw that the huge billboard was advertising the victory of some suburban guy on a TV show I've never watched. I had things to do so I didn't investigate further.

Last night on Google I looked up the billboard and confirmed my suspicions that the sign is relatively new. An article in The Star on April 28th, 2008 confirms the new(ish) construction. Corporate shills that they are, The Star tries to quash debate over the billboard:

That big, black, metal monster rising by the new Sprint Center may look like a double-faced billboard, but it’s actually the “marquee sign” included in the arena development agreement.

The 25-foot-tall sign is nearing completion at the corner of the arena loading dock area near the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Truman Road. The panels are actually 17-by-50-foot electronic LED boards and will provide the same kind of dazzling video capability as the arena scoreboard inside.

It seems to me that's not a quote but a justification. Nevertheless, one fact is clear:

OUTSIDE OF THE SPRINT CENTER THERE IS A HUGE BILLBOARD THAT VIOLATES A RECENT KANSAS CITY ORDINANCE!!!

Kansas City effectively banned billboards last year, before the Sprint Center opened and before they even started construction on the billboard.

The two justifications touted by the corporate soapbox otherwise known as The Star don't stand up to scrutiny:

This Sprint Center is calling it a "marquee" which means they're simply playing a lame name game that clearly violates the spirit of the law. If that kind of justification stands up then I guess that would make crack legal if you just called it "happy rock."

The Star touting a previous agreement is inconsequential, THE LAW HAS CHANGED!!! The law changed before the thing was ever built but Kansas City's downtown is now governed at the behest of the large corporations occupying space inside the loop and producing very little of the revenue they promised.

By the way, the argument that billboard is a "marquee" is simply moronic. The sign even advertises the same kind of garbage that's slapped on every other billboard in sight:



Even worse, the malfeasance of the Sprint Center shows a blatant disrespect for the locals who worked so hard to pass the anti-billboard ordinance. If the Sprint Center doesn't obey the law, why should anybody else?

In the final analysis, there is absolutely no difference between the Sprint Center Billboard and the other billboards that the people of Kansas City worked to prohibit. It's a huge electric, double-sided, monstrosity, visible for miles and intended to attract customers.



Once again, there's a sign that the law doesn't apply to everyone and it's glowing brightly downtown at this very moment reminding everyone that corporations don't need to play by the rules in Kansas City.

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