That mega billboard in downtown Miami isn’t just visual blight. It’s a warning sign | Opinion

It’s hard to miss a 10-story-tall digital billboard like the one that sits in front of the Perez Art Museum Miami in a prime spot along the city’s downtown waterfront. And that’s precisely why there’s a lawsuit — another one — over it.

The 1,800-square-foot ED display offers information about the museum — as well as a lot of splashy advertisements for brands such as Valentino, Amazon and Espolon tequila. It’s not necessarily what we would call in line with the mission of a museum like the PAMM.

Nearby residents have complained about it from the start — too big, too bright, out of character for the area. They call it visual blight, and we have to agree. More people are living in downtown these days, and their concerns need to be taken as seriously as commercial interests.

This isn’t just a fight over billboards; it’s a fight over what kind of city we want to be. Oversized billboards belong in Times Square, not along Miami’s waterfront. If we allow this one, what’s next?

Miami commissioners had to change city rules in 2023 to allow the jumbo billboards — former Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla sponsored the legislation — and a year later, the commission repealed the ordinance. That was the right move to stop what could become a damaging trend for the city. But the PAMM billboard, operated by politically-connected Orange Barrel Media, was already there.

The city sued, arguing the museum violated its ground lease by putting up the billboard. That ended this year in a settlement, with PAMM agreeing to pay the city $500,000 a year and reducing the hours the billboard is lit. Commissioner Damian Pardo, the billboard’s most outspoken critic on the city commission, called the settlement a “giveaway.”

The settlement didn’t end the controversy. But at least it has seems to have halted other proposed mammoth billboards from popping up nearby — so far, anyway — including at the county-owned Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. It should stay that way.

Now there’s another lawsuit. The museum next door, the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, has sued the Florida Department of Transportation on grounds it is failing to enforce the laws on billboards when it comes to the PAMM sign. The lawsuit says the billboard’s “klieg light effect negatively impacts Frost Science, nearby residents, and the safety of passing drivers...” and says “the bright light source constrains use of Frost Science’s outside spaces, especially at night.“

Last week, the PAMM filed paperwork to join the suit “to protect the interests of the art museum and media company.” The court hasn’t ruled yet but, clearly, this could turn into a museum vs. museum fight.

That’s not a great look for Miami. It’s awkward — the two museums are so close they share a parking garage — and a little heartbreaking.

The PAMM and the Frost are important assets to the community. Both museums have received various forms of government funding. Together, they helped reshape the city’s core; a desolate and sometimes dangerous Bicentennial Park of the ‘70s and ‘80s was transformed into modern Museum Park with these two institutions.

That was a significant win for our community. Good museums and cultural attractions are critical to a maturing, forward-looking city. Massive billboards, not so much.

We understand that museums must find ways to survive economically. There are important financial reasons for the PAMM billboard’s existence, of course.

The museum has called the sign, designed by Miami’s Arquitectonica, vital to the nonprofit’s mission. It notes that it was “meticulously reviewed and approved by all relevant authorities, ensuring full compliance with state and local regulations.” The museum is “continually exploring innovative funding approaches in these challenging times,” according to a PAMM statement to the Editorial Board.

That’s necessary. And maybe it explains the digital kiosk in the museum’s parking garage where visitors can buy the products advertised on the PAMM billboard. Nothing says cultural institution like a sales kiosk in the parking lot where you can buy the latest Valentino goods or place a DoorDash order.

There are a lot of competing interests in this case. James Torres of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance said the DNA and others “are in favor of the removal of the billboard, because it does impact the quality of life, and it’s a problem.” For the good of the community, both museums need to succeed — and it shouldn’t be one at the expense of the other.

Maybe the PAMM billboard, as the museum argues, will be dwarfed when the so-called “signature” bridge, connecting the Dolphin Expressway to interstates 395 and 95, is finished — though that is dragging on for so long, we wonder if it’ll ever open. (That’s an issue for another day.) But the oversized billboards need to stop now.

The PAMM behemoth should be a literal warning sign to Miami residents. Is that really the city you want?