Which billboard or other signage do you think uglies up 101 along the bay more than any other, either because of where it is or what it looks like? Take a gander at the candidates below. Then click HERE to cast your vote.
(Voting ends at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, 2012).
Click HERE to vote!
This article appears in School Lunch 2.0.
Boohoo…I clicked on the link to vote and it gave me an error message that I already voted!
Liar Liar – set the billboards on fire….haha.
i also was not able to vote. i would have liked to cast my vote for the billboard that blew down last week along Samoa Blvd.
Oops. We seem to be having technical difficulties … please stand by.
FIXED! Sorry ’bout that. Click away.
I voted for the NHS billboard, because global warming is about the ugliest thing I can think of.
I agree with Scott G (above). And why do virtually all of these grow supply places have such awful, high-schoolish logos?
Weirdly and confusingly, I actually like the “Midwa” drive in sign.
For worst billboard, I concur with 4:09 and 4:20, due to the dissonance between the social image of the outfit and the actual tactics the outfit uses.
I sympathize with the hot tub place, though, they’ve got to let passing drivers know they exist.
They’re ALL disgusting!
Why hasn’t the over-paid lay-about Railroad Authority Board memebers ACTUALLY followed through on getting the illegal ones removed?
And shame on the a**hole at sign painter for continuing to do business on those illegal sites.
YEA! lets slam all our local business trying to survive.
Citizen 9:31, you may not like billboards, but believe me, that sign painter is a resourceful, hard-working entrepreneur.
Some of the ones in Eureka are pretty bad, especially the casino ones with women who look like they are being beaten or cheepend.
I’m with Citizen. Illegal, ugly, unneeded. Why do we make laws when we all know big business will do whatever they want anyhow. I should start a business renting out trailers I could line up along the highway. Great profitability in renting out things that aren’t yours. Burn one down and I bet law enforcement gets involved. Unless they are too busy harassing the occupiers and killing the needy and our children.
I grew up in Michigan, which has a TON of billboards everywhere. About a third of them feature a giant head of some local car dealer or insurance agent. It’s just creepy.
James and Citizen NONE of these signs are currently illegal. Just because someone prints something doesn’t mean it’s correct. These billboards have a huge impact on our local communities, not only in helping the advertisers that use them, but supporting/providing work for local people to sell and maintain them.
I just don’t understand it, people here are just trying to make an honest living and just because it doesn’t fit your ideology everyone wants to ban it. If you want to improve our community we need business to be able to survive and create jobs, not the opposite.
That 4-H sign is older than the NCJ
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/news/2012/03/29/billboard-blight/
Since people cannot bother to read why the signs are still there.
Nice to slam 4-H a non profit that is kids helping kids. That sign is less than 6 years old so the NCJ must not have been around very long. Arcata Bottom 4-H is the oldest 4-H club in the state of California, 100 years old in 2013. Arcata Bottom 4-H has great kids and it hurts me that people feel it necessary to say our billboard is the ugliest. All it’s doing is trying to promote kids learning about 4-H and all the wonderful opportunities 4-H has to offer. SHAME ON YOU!
WOW, really is this high school? Great journalism here, casting a vote that basically blast 30 local business. Lets see how does NCJ make it’s money? Advertising, well you just alienated a large group of business from ever wanting to do business with you. And I’m sure Mid City and Living Styles are thrilled to know that they spend their advertising dollars in a publication that turns around and publishes a negative article about them.
I doubt that many people have a problem with the 4H sign or the hot tubs sign. I like the Thomas Home Center sign. The casino signs are positively lurid.
I love how the Coors sign makes me think of beer as I’m entering the highway. I stare at the sign thinking “Mmmmm, I wish I had a beer right now”. Meanwhile I am completely ignoring the fact that I’m merging & should have my turn signal on. Someone merging from the other lane nearly sideswipes me, at the same time I slam on the brakes to avoid rear ending some stoner who is entering he highway at 35mph in front of me. Bad Sign Placement Combined with Bad Entrance Ramp Design drives me to drink.
can i vote for the the offensive Tiptop banner ad on this page?
no billionaire left behind….would make a great billbored………..snooze
Your survey is not working again.
Hey-i know-get rid of all advertising-then more local businesses can go under-Hurrican Kates;Jalisco;Fiesta;Plaza Design;Max Pizza-all just this year!
ya NCJ bad call on alienating potential advertisers. I agree, bill boards are kind of lame, but we do live in a capitalist society, which is kind of lame too. Also… I like how dumb some peoples replies are to this. Global warming caused by NHS? For real? Please do elaborate. I also happen to think their logo is professional, and they do a ton of philanthropic outreach in the community. And the Coors guy? C’mon if you’re too distracted and tempted by a bill board to properly merge you should seek treatment for your alcoholism. If all you people with your stupid responses would line up on the highway with what you’ve posted here written on a sign I would vote that the ugliest bill board. Ridiculous!
Fixed for you, Anon_Too!
Let’s see, food? Gas? Hotel? Oh, I know! A Coors beer and a mortgage while I’m passing through Eureka! Billboards are not cheap. Unless you are offering services for travelers, you are wasting your money and adding ugliness to the safety corridor.
I am really confused. What are you hoping to accomplish by picking the business that has the ugliest billboard? Perhaps I am missing something, but the only thing I see happening here is the creation of a negative forum for bashing our local businesses? With that said, I wish there weren’t any billboards on the 101 safety corridor at all. Just seems to me that the “vote” should simply be about whether or not you support the billboards or want them taken down. Spread love not hate. Just saying….
This damned online ranking systems went down too much. I say throw it out and run it again next week.
I completely understand and agree that this situation is absurd and has gone round and round far too long. I wish billboards weren’t located along the Bay. I just feel that ‘voting for the ugliest sign’ provided an unnecessary opportunity for people to bring down local companies, artists and/or even the guy that hangs the ads (yea when I saw that one comment on the ncj website about the painter guy it shocked me) RATHER THAN focusing the attention on the root of the problem –>The sleazy, loop hole finding corporation in New York that constructs/owns the majority of the signs!!! <– Maybe it would be more productive to provide us with information on who we can contact locally, a name and an address in New York to bombard with letters, or a link to an online petition to sign…. I don’t know??? Anything except single out a local company billboard. I know that your overall intentions are good; I just don’t see how this vote contributes to the good of the cause. The folks that are passionate enough about this situation should be directed to put all of their energy and opinions towards the CBS company in New York. In my opinion, trying to alienate a local business (to do what? deter them from advertising there?) is not at all beneficial because there is another business (perhaps WALMART – lol) that is waiting in the wings to advertise in that spot next. I appreciate that you guys care and have informed us of these issues. I also love the playfulness of the NCJ… I guess in this case I am bummed because the negativity of this vote was a bit of a turn off.
To all negative poster, please understand that these billboards not only provide the most cost effective way for business to advertise, but they support many local business and families. My entire income is derived from billboards. It is true that many of them are owned by CBS outdoor, but they allow local companies to sell the space, they contract with local companies to maintain them, they pay local land owners to use their land. As far as the poster who says if your not a hotel or gas station why bother. That is a very ignorant statement, my clients say they get business every day from these boards and there is a waiting list to get onto them.
Thanks for reading
Proper use of a billboard
http://www.micheleguieu.com/wordpress/inspiration/2011/12/08/the-billboard-art-project-in-corona-ca-a-glimpse-at-the-show/