Texas Monthly ran an article this month titled “Did Playboy Screw Prada?” The subtitle helpfully clarifies“The dustup around Playboy’s controversial art installation outside of Marfa revealed regulations that might require the removal of the famous Prada Marfa sculpture.”
The long and short of it is that the Texas Department of Transportation wants to get rid of the Playboy exhibit so they have deemed it “illegal outdoor advertising”. Logically it follows that if the Playboy installation is illegal advertising than so must be the Prada installation. This is what Texas Monthly finds so troubling. But if they want the Prada exhibit to stay, are they are asking the wrong question.
To help distill what the right questions might be we look to Big Bend Now to give us further insight into TxDoT’s position:
“Veronica Beyer, TxDoT Director of Media Relations, said in a Tuesday afternoon email that “the agency has ordered the property owner to remove this sign because the owner does not have a Texas License for Outdoor Advertising and a specific permit application for the sign was not submitted.
“Furthermore,” she wrote, “the location at which the sign has been placed does not qualify for a permit. TxDoT is treating this case like any other when someone has placed an outdoor advertising display without an active license and permit, and in an area that does not qualify for such permits. According the Order of Removal, the landowner has 45 days to remove the sign.”
TxDoT reached this decision after Marfa resident Lineaus Hooper Lorette filed a complaint on June 24 to the highway department.
In his complaint, Lorette cited that the outdoor advertisement was built without a permit and that no visible permit number is available as prescribed by law.”
That statement is packed with many interesting and disturbing bits of information. We find that Texas regulations require outdoor advertisers to have a Texas License for Outdoor Advertising, a specific permit for each specific ad, the area for the ad has to “qualify for such permits“, and the permit number has to be visible.
That’s an awful lot of advertising regulation. Clearly these regulations inhibit free enterprise and private property rights.
Does Texas have too many intrusive regulations on outdoor advertising? Should those laws be reformed to enhance free enterprise and private property rights? These are the questions Texas Monthly ought to be asking if they are incensed that the TxDot is gunning for removal of the Prada exhibit.