THE MIAMI HERALD

CITY MAY BENCH AD POLICY TO ATTRACT BUS STOP BIDS

Saturday, July 25, 1987
Section: BRWD S
Edition: BRWRD
Page: 2BR

CHRISTOPHER WELLISZ Herald Staff Writer

Memo: COMMUNITY NEWS + HOLLYWOOD

A longstanding prohibition against advertising liquor or cigarettes on public property may be lifted because Hollywood is having trouble finding companies willing to bid on a bus shelter franchise.

Hollywood asked 11 companies to bid for the right to build 109 ad-bearing bus shelters on city streets. Only one company, Trendel Inc., responded.

One reason, according to purchasing agent George Wolf: City policy prohibits liquor or cigarette advertising, a big source of income for companies that build bus shelters.

Administrators say the city should consider lifting the prohibition as a way of attracting more bidders. Wednesday, the City Commission took the first step in that direction when it ordered administrators to ask for new bids.

Commissioner Cathy Anderson, however, said she'll vote to keep the policy. "I don't think we should be advertising liquor and tobacco," she said, citing the health hazards of drinking and smoking.

"I'm very much against smoking," Anderson said. "I lost my aunt two years ago to emphysema as a result of smoking. She literally smoked herself to death."

Others take a more liberal view. "I think it's up to the individual to decide whether to make a purchase or not," said Commissioner Suzanne Gunzberger, who does not smoke.

John Williams, another nonsmoker, said: "If people are foolish enough -- and they are by the countless millions -- to drink and smoke, I don't mind very much," he said.

Trendel President Eric Nadel was unhappy with the city's decision to reject his company's $500,000 bid for a seven-year franchise. Trendel, he said, does not accept liquor or cigarette ads, regardless of city policy.

"Trendel has many advertisers without liquor or tobacco, and we don't feel it's necessary to have it in the city of Hollywood or any city, for that matter," he said.

City officials, however, say the city may get a better offer from another company if the restrictions are removed.

Trendel also has franchises in Sunrise, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill and Pembroke Park. Only Pembroke Park prohibits liquor and cigarette ads, said Trendel Vice President Bill Dobson.

City officials said the policy, which also prohibits ads for massage parlors and X-rated movies, has been in effect for 15 years or more. No one has suggested a change in the anti-porn clause.

"Advertising is in the eye of the beholder, I guess," Wolf said. The city was once asked to remove an advertisement for a funeral home from a bus bench near a building for the elderly, he said. "The senior citizens didn't want to see that the undertaker was waiting for them."

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