Advertisers’ requests remain unanswered

05.07.2012 15:10
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3 minute(s)

The Municipality’s decision to forcibly remove the billboards from Dacia Boulevard, on the segment between the City Gates and the Airport, has caused great losses for advertisers. Members of the Association of Advertising Agencies (AAPM) stated in a press conference on Thursday, July 5, that despite of their attempts to commence a dialogue with the municipal authorities, the latter did not reply. Nor have the central authorities, although the members of the association sent an open letter to Premier Vlad Filat, reports Info-Prim Neo. AAPM secretary Margarita Smitcaia stated that the members hoped for an efficient dialogue with the local public administration, and for resolution in a collaborative atmosphere, yet the authorities are not empathetic towards the agents’ issues. “On April 24, a series of outdoor advertisement operators whom the order concerned, wrote a preventive request to the City Hall. According to Article 14 of the Law on contentious administrative matters, the Mayor should’ve given us a reply within 30 days, which did not happen”, stated Victoria Barba, a member of the association. The lack of a response determined them to file with a court. According to the members of the AAPM the removal of over 100 billboards would cause losses for the municipal Budget of about 2 million lei in fiscal taxes. Along with those loses, agents suffer their own losses as well. Concomitantly, there is no concrete plan for the upcoming actions: there is no plan for the renovation or modernization of that street segment, and no plan for rearranging the advertisements. Victoria Barba added that the authorities had no reaction to the project for the rearrangement of billboards, presented by the agency to the City Hall, Municipal Council, and Premier Vlad Filat. Previously, members of the association presented a project, according to which the ads on the segment City Gates – Airport would be placed vertically on light posts, using the agents’ funds. Each billboard would be placed on every sixth post, leaving about 270m distance between each board. Additionally, the agents proposed to cover lighting costs for all the posts used. According to their calculations, this fact would allow savings of 20% for the City Hall. The project has been presented to the authorities in May.