…Missouri’s roads have become saturated with billboards? Gradually, insidiously, with each passing year, the scenic beauty of our state is being destroyed.

If we were to parachute onto almost any highway in any city in Missouri, we wouldn’t know where we were because they’re all beginning to look the same. We wouldn’t know if we were in Springfield or Sedalia, Jefferson City or Jefferson County, Kansas City or Kirksville. Why? Because our roadways are being overrun by sprawl development, towering franchise signs, disfiguring cellular towers and, maybe worst of all, monstrous, ugly and unnecessary billboards.

The irony is that Missouri is a beautiful state. But our rolling green hills, breathtaking river valleys and remote Ozark Mountains can only be found after traveling on some of the most visually polluted highways in America. Picture Highway 54 through the Lake of the Ozarks, or the once beautiful Highway 65 between Springfield and Branson, or literally across the entire state on I-70 or I-44.

Our roads and highways once opened Missouri up allowing the traveler to delight in the beauty of the land. But they have become, in the words of best-selling author and Missouri native William Least Heat-Moon, "tubes of the hideous." There is hardly a place where huge billboards pushing fireworks, gambling, liquor and sex clubs do not mar the view. In fact, Missouri has nearly three times as many billboards per mile as our eight neighboring states, and more than most states that permit billboards.

Why do we have such a problem with billboards? The reason is quite simple. Missouri has the most lenient state billboard law in the country. Adding insult to injury, court decisions in 1993 and 1996 stripped local communities of the right to regulate billboards in any meaningful way. In unincorporated rural and scenic areas, state law allows billboards to be erected practically anywhere, as long as minimal commercial activity is nearby.

Not a pretty picture in Missouri, is it? What can we do about the loss of our scenery? Scenic Missouri was formed to address this very issue. Scenic Missouri is working hard to protect our visual environment. Since opening the office in 1994, we’ve focused on helping communities regain the right to control billboards.

We’ve been educating civic groups, legislators, business leaders and public officials about the need to change state billboard policy. We know that Missourians support Scenic Missouri’s mission.

Public opinion polls in 1994 and 1997 found widespread support for billboard restrictions. In fact, over 75% of Missouri’s registered voters support local billboard control and over half would prefer that "many or most billboards be eliminated." Over thirty statewide and regional organizations have joined the Save Our Scenery Coalition. Scenic Missouri has received editorial support from every major newspaper in the state.

Despite this clear support, the Missouri Legislature has been unwilling, year after year, to deal with the problem. That’s why, in 1997, Scenic Missouri kicked-off the Save Our Scenery (SOS) Campaign, a citizen’s initiative to ensure the right of Missouri’s communities to fully control billboards. With the pressure on, the powerful and wealthy billboard lobby finally began to bend. In June 1998, the Governor signed a bill authorizing "any city or county to adopt regulations with respect to outdoor advertising that are more restrictive than the height, size, lighting and spacing provisions" of the Missouri Billboard Statute.

Unfortunately, huge billboards continue to be erected throughout the state. Many Missouri communities, especially small, rural towns and counties, continue to be targeted for billboard saturation. And the billboard industry’s strategy of intimidation (lawsuit after lawsuit) has continued. It’s time the citizens of Missouri, not the special interest billboard lobby, decide what Missouri’s billboard policy should be. Therefore, on June 22, 1999 we kicked off the Save Our Scenery 2000 Campaign to put the issue on the ballot on November 7, 2000. The enclosed SOS Fact Sheet explains the Campaign in more detail.

Scenic Missouri needs your help to win this battle. We are making real progress. We need your help now more than ever!

Please join this historic movement by sending your tax-deductible membership contribution today.

Four states have no billboards – Vermont, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii. Others, like Rhode Island, Oregon, Iowa, Kentucky and Colorado have done much to curb visual pollution. Don’t you think it’s time Missouri was added to the list? Your gift of $35, $50 or $100 will help make this happen.