Are you starting a sign business, or considering starting one? If so, this new book will introduce you to many of the important facets involved in running a sign shop. Getting Started in the Sign Business ...
A new association, the EDERA, hopes to educate public officials about the benefits of electronic signage.
Three years ago, the International Sign Assn. (ISA) operated a tradeshow booth at the American Planning Assn. (APA) annual meeting in Chicago. David Jones, who serves as an attorney for Young Electric Sign Co. (headquartered in Salt Lake City, but David works from the Phoenix office), was asked to help man the booth and answer any questions, especially legal ones. Jones, as veteran ST readers will recall, formerly wrote an ST column called "Legislative Matters," and he's written extensively about sign codes for numerous groups.
Jones recalled, "I was approached by several planners, at separate times, who inquired about the regulation of electronic signs. They saw them coming as a more prevalent form of signage, but they didn't understand enough about the technology, or how they could be controlled, so they could regulate them. They saw some operations of these signs that were objectionable, but others that they thought were perfectly acceptable for their community."
When the next ISA Sign Expo convened in Las Vegas, in 2003, several electronic-message-center (EMC) manufacturers gathered at YESCO's local branch office to discuss a model code that focused on EMCs, and perhaps some ancillary EMC information could be compiled. Primarily assisted by Daktronics Inc.'s (Brookings, SD) Jeremy Johnson, Jones devised a model code that he "tested" in Mesa, Gilbert and Bullhead City, AZ, and Jones said, "All three adopted some form of it."Daktronics Inc.
By the time the ISA Sign Expo rolled around last year, the project had produced three tangible entities: an eight-page, photo-laden brochure that explains the benefits of EMCs and includes numerous FAQs; a 16-page brochure that outlines EMCs' history and their regulation, a discussion of traffic-safety issues, a model code and definitions; and a 17-minute DVD that combines the two brochures. Each brochure carries the title "Signs of Success." (Note: The publication refers to such signs as electronic messages displays, or EMDs.)
By the end of the month, the Electronic Display Manufacturers Assn. was formally incorporated, and, soon after, the name was changed to Electronic Display Educational Research Assn. (EDERA). Jones cited its mission statement: "to provide educational assistance to state and local government with respect to the operation and regulation of electronic-message-center signage."
Did you enjoy this article? Click here to subscribe to the magazine.