Wynwood growth

The residents of North Beach, Wynwood and Miami have made it clear that they do not favor overdevelopment.

Miami residents also made it vehemently clear that they do not want electronic billboards on high-rise buildings — or anything that will constitute urban blight and a lower-quality life experience in our burgeoning metropolitan area.

Along this same line, Miami commissioners need to act now to close the loophole in the zoning code that apparently allows pseudo-billboards in the form of gigantic painted or draped, lighted advertisements on the sides of buildings, which can be seen from a mile away day or night.

There is no need for them, as the city does not need the tax revenues generated by these billboards; and the residents certainly don’t want them.

So why do they exist? Are they trying to create Times Square South?

If the city fails to close this loophole without grandfathering in the existing billboards, the Miami Herald should investigate and report which commissioners are being enriched by the outdoor-advertising companies behind this blight so that they can be voted out of office.

Let’s not leave this blemish, let alone let it spread, on the great strides being made toward making Miami a world-class jewel on the bay.

This story was originally published December 31, 2015 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Wynwood growth."