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TOBACCO BILLBOARD BAN [9.11.5]
Chicago Prepares To Follow Baltimore's Lead
Chicago is on the verge of following Baltimore's lead in restricting tobacco billboards. Other cities are expected to join them. Following are excerpts from the Chicago Tribune:
Ald. Edward Burke (14th), who enjoys affecting a courtly air, was at his courtliest Wednesday when he stood up in the City Council to applaud himself and his aldermanic colleagues.
The council was on the verge of approving a ban on alcohol and tobacco advertising on billboards in Chicago neighborhoods, and Burke was one of the last speakers.
"This council," he said, "can be proud of the fact that, here in Chicago, the corporate authorities have led the way (against liquor and cigarette ads) when other cities around this country were timid."
It was strange praise to lavish on a governing body that had sat on its collective hands for more than a decade until Wednesday, when in an abrupt about-face, the aldermen voted 44-1 to approve the prohibition in residential areas of the city.
Although Burke criticized other cities, the Chicago City Council had shied away from an attack on liquor and cigarette billboards until a smaller municipality, Baltimore, led the way with its own ground-breaking ban.
For 14 years before that, a lone South Side priest and his parishioners waged an ostensibly hopeless battle to get the council's attention--and action against such signs. But ranged against them was a heavyweight cast of politically connected lobbyists and a cornucopia of campaign funding, sure to catch the eye of many a council member.
"At least we didn't sit back and do nothing," Burke said, noting that Chicago had banned the distribution of free sample cigarette packs on city streets and had limited the availability of cigarette vending machines.
But never in all that time did the council take a head-to-head stand against the alcohol and tobacco billboards that Rev. Michael Pfleger, the pastor at St. Sabina Catholic Church at 1210 W. 78th Pl., calls "24-hour drug dealers" preying on inner-city neighborhoods.
Without a touch of irony, Burke tipped his hat to Pfleger on Wednesday, noting, "On many occasions, his was a very lonely and solitary battle."
The battle was particularly lonely and solitary because Pfleger was challenging three industries--the billboard, tobacco and alcohol companies--with tight political and financial ties to the council.
The list of some of their lobbyists tell part of the story: Thomas Lyons, chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party; Al Ronan, a former state representative; Daniel Houlihan, a top zoning attorney and another former state representative; and William Griffin, a former top aide to Mayor Jane Byrne.
Another part of the story can be seen in campaign contribution records. Since 1994, billboard companies, for example, gave $9,025 to Burke and five other chairmen of council committees. More than half of that money--$5,525--came from Eller Media Co. at 4000 S. Morgan St.
Cigarette companies have also been aggressive.
For example, eight days after Jesse Granato was elected alderman of the 1st Ward in April 1995, he was the recipient of a $1,500 gift from Philip Morris. And it didn't stop there. Seven months later, the tobacco company bestowed an additional $300 on the alderman.
In his crusade, Pfleger has gone so far as to spend several hours in jail for painting over cigarette and liquor signs. Charged with criminal damage to property, Pfleger admitted the vandalism in court in July 1991 but argued that he had a moral right to act. The jurors agreed and acquitted him.
The most galling aspect of the issue for Pfleger has been the way that cigarette and liquor advertisers have seemed to target African-American and other minority communities, particularly those with less affluent populations.
Surveys done by Pfleger and his allies--admittedly partisan observers--have found a significantly higher percentage of such signs in black neighborhoods than in white areas, as well as many more billboards of all sorts.
In Baltimore, the City Council approved its prohibition against alcohol and tobacco signs in residential areas on Jan. 31, 1994, arguing that, in their enticements to use the products, they posed a threat to the health of children.
Over the next three years, the city fought efforts by the three affected industries to quash the ban in the courts. Finally, last April 28, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling that upheld the prohibition.
That move eliminated the major reason Chicago aldermen had given over the years for taking no action--the fear of the ordinance being challenged in court.
The Chicago ordinance is virtually identical to the Baltimore law, even down to a list of exemptions. Under both measures, cigarette and liquor signs are prohibited in residential neighborhoods where they would be seen day in and day out by children, but are permitted in factory areas, along highways and at major sports facilities.
The Chicago ordinance, which covers the 4,278 billboards in the city, goes into effect Oct. 10, but existing cigarette and liquor ads in residential areas will be able to remain until their contracts run out. Many billboard contracts are monthly in nature, and few run for longer than a year.
Also weighing in favor of the ordinance was behind-the-scenes support from Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has attacked billboards on a number of fronts in his eight years as mayor.
A South Side priest's 14-year-long battle comes to an end as the City Council votes to ban cigarette and liquor ads.