Manedwolf
member
I am so, so, so, so glad I don't live in that state... :banghead:
Anyone living there might want to use the author's email address to start fighting this...
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Mom takes on gun-show billboards
By Amy Oakes
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 4, 2006
She sees the violence guns have brought to her community, so the last thing Bevelynn Bravo wants is for them to be advertised around her neighborhood.
In her five-year crusade, Bravo has tried to stop billboard operators from advertising gun shows in her Lincoln Park community. She doesn't blame them for the violence directly, but she said, she doesn't think gun sales should be promoted.
“I feel like they are contributing to the deaths in this community,” Bravo said. “The gun-show billboards aren't doing us any good.”
Bravo has teamed with the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils, a nonprofit community group, to help her collect signatures and support. Her efforts have gotten the attention of San Diego City Councilman Tony Young.
The councilman is working with the City Attorney's office to see if gun-show advertisements can be kept off billboards in his Fourth District, said Jimmie Slack, Young's spokesman.
The city has an agreement with Viacom and Clear Channel – two of the largest billboard operators in the city – that prohibits alcohol advertisements in certain locations, Slack said. For example, a billboard advertising beer can't be within 500 feet of a school and city recreation center.
Crossroads of the West, which puts on gun shows at Del Mar Fairgrounds, contracts with Viacom. The Utah-based company had a show in January and four more are planned this year. The next show is scheduled for April 8 and 9.
Viacom determines where the show is advertised, said Tracy Olcott, who handles billboard marketing for the gun show.
“We have no say in where they go,” she said.
A Viacom representative did not return calls seeking comment.
Bravo, a mother of four, began her fight when her daughter read a gun-show sign while on a walk. She didn't think children or any youth in her community should be reading signs advertising guns.
Bravo said she called Viacom to complain and was told the signs would be removed. But, she said, the signs reappeared as a new gun show rolled into the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
“Every year, we go through the same thing,” Bravo said.
This time, Bravo is not fighting alone.
Bravo took her petition to a January meeting of the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils and got support from other community leaders in District 4. They are helping by collecting signatures on a petition in their neighborhoods.
Dwayne Crenshaw, the coalition's executive director, said although his organization supports First Amendment rights, he hopes the billboard companies listen to the community.
“This is an issue of broad concern,” he said.
There were 155 shooting-related incidents last year in the Police Department's Southeastern Division, according to police records. That's a decrease of 40 from the previous year.
For Bravo, getting rid of the gun-show advertisements is just one way to make her community feel a little safer.
“Some things are just long term and you can't find solutions too fast,” Bravo said. “But, we'll continue to fight.”
Amy Oakes: (619) 498-6633; [email protected]
Anyone living there might want to use the author's email address to start fighting this...
----------------------------------------------------
Mom takes on gun-show billboards
By Amy Oakes
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 4, 2006
She sees the violence guns have brought to her community, so the last thing Bevelynn Bravo wants is for them to be advertised around her neighborhood.
In her five-year crusade, Bravo has tried to stop billboard operators from advertising gun shows in her Lincoln Park community. She doesn't blame them for the violence directly, but she said, she doesn't think gun sales should be promoted.
“I feel like they are contributing to the deaths in this community,” Bravo said. “The gun-show billboards aren't doing us any good.”
Bravo has teamed with the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils, a nonprofit community group, to help her collect signatures and support. Her efforts have gotten the attention of San Diego City Councilman Tony Young.
The councilman is working with the City Attorney's office to see if gun-show advertisements can be kept off billboards in his Fourth District, said Jimmie Slack, Young's spokesman.
The city has an agreement with Viacom and Clear Channel – two of the largest billboard operators in the city – that prohibits alcohol advertisements in certain locations, Slack said. For example, a billboard advertising beer can't be within 500 feet of a school and city recreation center.
Crossroads of the West, which puts on gun shows at Del Mar Fairgrounds, contracts with Viacom. The Utah-based company had a show in January and four more are planned this year. The next show is scheduled for April 8 and 9.
Viacom determines where the show is advertised, said Tracy Olcott, who handles billboard marketing for the gun show.
“We have no say in where they go,” she said.
A Viacom representative did not return calls seeking comment.
Bravo, a mother of four, began her fight when her daughter read a gun-show sign while on a walk. She didn't think children or any youth in her community should be reading signs advertising guns.
Bravo said she called Viacom to complain and was told the signs would be removed. But, she said, the signs reappeared as a new gun show rolled into the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
“Every year, we go through the same thing,” Bravo said.
This time, Bravo is not fighting alone.
Bravo took her petition to a January meeting of the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils and got support from other community leaders in District 4. They are helping by collecting signatures on a petition in their neighborhoods.
Dwayne Crenshaw, the coalition's executive director, said although his organization supports First Amendment rights, he hopes the billboard companies listen to the community.
“This is an issue of broad concern,” he said.
There were 155 shooting-related incidents last year in the Police Department's Southeastern Division, according to police records. That's a decrease of 40 from the previous year.
For Bravo, getting rid of the gun-show advertisements is just one way to make her community feel a little safer.
“Some things are just long term and you can't find solutions too fast,” Bravo said. “But, we'll continue to fight.”
Amy Oakes: (619) 498-6633; [email protected]
