San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
EXPECT HUGE BUILDING WRAP ADS DURING COMIC-CON
S.D. law prohibits them, but fines are too low to matter; council not changing rules
San Diegans can expect to see plenty of gigantic building wrap ads take over the downtown waterfront during Comic-con, partly because city officials haven’t closed an unusual loophole that encourages the illegal ads.
Both critics and supporters of the colossal wrap ads for movies and TV shows say they had hoped San Diego officials would use the two-year Comic-con hiatus during the pandemic to close the loophole by creating a firm city policy.
While the Port District allows the building wrap ads on land it controls west of Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway, the city formally prohibits them — but essentially allows them — on the rest of the waterfront.
City rules say the wraps are not allowed under any circumstances, but the city charges fines that are a fraction of what advertisers pay the buildings to run the ads. That makes it a financial no-brainer for the buildings to break the law.
Supporters of the ads would like to see the city make them legal, but only during Comic-con and a few extra days on either side of the popular event held locally each July.
They argue that the wrap ads are part of the exciting hoopla that transforms San Diego into a different place during Comic-con, and that there’s no danger of the waterfront becoming gaudy like Las Vegas if the ads are prohibited the rest of the year.
Critics say the city should sharply increase the fines so that they are large enough to make it financially prohibitive for buildings to break the law by allowing such ads.
They argue that the ads are visual blight that make the waterfront look like a circus. And they warn that allowing them during Comic-com is a slippery slope that could bring the ads during every summer weekend — or even more often.
A spokesperson for Mayor Todd Gloria said this week that the mayor has “no intention of taking changes up