Cartas al editor Atención San Miguel

Editor
I understand that San Miguel needs to allow controlled development and encourage commercial enterprises in ways that bring in revenue without adding unnecessarily to the ugliness that sometimes accompanies commercial development. It is reasonable, for example, to permit enterprises to identify themselves with signs that can be seen from the road, or that identify the route to off-road locations. However, I wonder if the municipal authorities have considered that large-scale advertising billboards along the roads and streets, though they may be a source of some income, are both garish and unnecessary.

Other forms of advertising that do not intrude on the eyes of every resident and visitor are available.

Left unchecked, the competitive proliferation of billboard advertising can eventually create an impression of sleaziness that will repel visitors to San Miguel and undermine the value of the very hotels, developments, and other enterprises that will increasingly feel compelled to compete for attention through such advertising.

I respectfully suggest that San Miguel’s municipal authorities may find it useful to look into the experience of the municipalities and states in other countries that have chosen to preserve the natural beauty and historical interest of their area by declining to permit random, large-scale billboard advertising.

Richard Brown