SEATTLE — Advertising on bus shelters, benches and trash cans and informational signs have always been banned in Seattle, but that could soon change.
On Friday, Seattle Department of Transportation put out a request for bids for a vendor to replace street furniture on 300 blocks of the city, and in exchange put advertising on the furniture.
"We're looking to replace our current street furnishings that's high-quality, high-designed and that also comes with a higher standard of maintenance," said Jennifer Wieland, Seattle Department of Transportation.
The City Council would still need to approve changing city zoning to allow the advertising.
"There is a tradeoff with that but with the advertising, if it is allowed, gives us the potential to do a lot of great things for the city," said Wieland.
Paula Rees of the nonprofit, Keep Washington Beautiful, believes the city is making a big mistake by pursuing this option.
"We've decided for decades with litigation to keep advertising off of our streets, so why would it just suddenly change?" said Rees.
She said she's studied this issue for years and found in other cities, advertising on street furniture leads to crime and vandalism.
"It's not an attractive look for a downtown city to have this kind of advertising in our public realm," said Rees.
"The city's already sort of cluttered, you think?" said Kai Powell who rides the Metro bus.
"I would argue that if you look at the street furniture right now, it's marked up, it's not in great shape, so I don't believe adding advertising is going to increase that. In fact, I think it will decrease it," said Wieland.
SDOT says that the vendor the city picks to replace the street furniture must also be vigilant about maintaining it.
Broken parts would have to be replaced in 24 hours.
The city hopes to choose a vendor by July.
If the City Council approves changing the code to allow advertisements on street furniture, SDOT says the new bus shelters could be installed by next spring.
"I think it'd be good, and they need more shelters and bus stops in Seattle because it's rainy Seattle," said Wynna Outland, who rides the Metro bus.
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