Editorial: Double-duty meters are double trouble

Friday, Nov. 8, 2002 | 9:31 a.m.

In the city of Las Vegas, risque advertising assaults the senses of pedestrians and drivers throughout the downtown area. There's not much the city can do, however, because the images promoting adult businesses blare out from taxis, billboards, sidewalk kiosks and building marquees. The courts have long upheld the First Amendment rights of advertisers who use such private venues. But does the city have to invite even more visual blight by leasing out the poles that support its ubiquitous parking meters?

The City Council this week approved a contract giving an advertising agency the right to attach three-sided placards to the poles just underneath the meters -- at about the eye level of pre-teen children. The agency vows it will sell the space only to reputable businesses, and has mentioned restaurants, attorneys, cell-phone companies and hotels. These potential advertisers, the agency states, have expressed horror at the thought of their ads appearing next to a porno pole a few feet away, and so the agency will not accept ads for strip clubs, escort services and other adult businesses.

But unlike private businesses, the government cannot discriminate in selling ad space. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada warned the city that the courts are clear on this issue, that publicly owned property approved for advertising must be open to all legal businesses. We would advise the City Council to rescind its approval of parking-meter advertising before it begins causing more trouble than it's worth.