A billboard battle has flared in East Hartford. At an August 7 Town Council meeting, Lamar Advertising threatened litigation against competitor Face Value and the town if town officials decide to ink a deal with Face Value and not them.
The two billboard companies are vying for lucrative sign placements along Interstate 84.
Lamar’s threat adds a new wrinkle to Face Value’s proposal, which already has drawn some scrutiny. Democratic Hartford Sen. John Fonfara, who owns the company, has been questioned for hiring politically connected lawyers in Norwich and East Hartford to lobby for his business propositions.
Fonfara told the council that Robert DeCrescenzo, a former East Hartford Democratic mayor, was one of several lawyers working for his company but that DeCrescenzo was in no way working as a lobbyist for him.
Reverse Logic
In East Hartford, there is a moratorium on new billboards. But a company can build a new sign in town by taking down at least two other signs, in a kind of 2-for-1 deal.
Several years ago Lamar, which owns 18 of the 19 billboards in town, offered to take down 12 signs in return for permits to build two billboard structures along the highway.
The deal stalled when Lamar couldn’t secure agreements from several property owners to take down the signs.
Face Value only recently came into the picture and now says it has written agreements with property owners to take down seven billboards. In return, the company is asking to build two billboard structures along I-84 and is seeking a 40-year contract with the town.
Lamar representatives came to the council meeting in a huff, threatening a fight in court. They accused Face Value of trying to evict their billboards by getting property owners to end their contracts — causing a breach of contract.
“This is our contract with Face Value’s name on it,” Stephen Hebert, a Lamar vice president, said about Face Value’s proposal.
Changing Scene
Both businesses want to take down the three billboards at 1252-1256 Main St., a large, dilapidated apartment building by the intersection of Main Street and Burnside Avenue. The Town Council has expressed great interest in this plan, because it has said that the billboards are subsidizing an unkempt property.
After a lot of discussion before the council, Face Value’s contract proposal and the entire hullabaloo was tabled for further consideration. Both companies offered to protect the town from court costs if it does come down to that.
“We’re going to be very careful about doing anything, because anything that we do will result in a long-term contract for the town, positively or negatively,” council Chairman Richard F. Kehoe said.
To add to the mess, about four residents came to the meeting to speak out against having signs along the highway. Residents said the billboards would cause an unsafe distraction in a busy stretch of the highway and would cheapen the town’s image.
“This is nothing that’s going to enhance East Hartford. It’s only going to enhance the finances of Mr. Fonfara,” said Susan Kniep, a former Republican mayor and president of the East Hartford Taxpayers Association.
