Billboards Fight Pits PAMM and Arsht Center Against Residents

For his first major initiative as Miami’s District 2 commissioner, Damian Pardo is on a mission to short-circuit plans by the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and the Adrienne Arsht Center of the Performing Arts to erect 10-story LED billboards facing Interstate 395.

He’s one step closer to accomplishing his goal.

On Feb. 22, the Miami City Commission voted 3-2 on first reading to rescind a 1-year-old ordinance allowing 100-foot LED billboards spanning 1,800 square feet if the signs serve a public purpose. That allows the city to circumvent Florida state law that caps billboards at a maximum height of 65 feet and a maximum size of 950 square feet. The commission also voted to place a moratorium on issuing any permits for the oversize LED billboards.

But officials for PAMM and the Arsht, as well as a phalanx of lobbyists representing Orange Barrel Media, the digital sign company partnering with the two cultural venues, have warned Pardo and his colleagues that preventing them from putting up the billboards would severely undercut efforts to find additional sources of revenue for the publicly subsidized institutions.

Orange Barrel’s hired guns have also threatened to sue the city should Pardo’s measure receive final approval at the Miami City Commission meeting on March 14, since PAMM has already obtained a permit to put up its LED billboard.

Yet Pardo is undeterred, telling the Biscayne Times that many of his constituents who live in downtown Miami condominiums facing Maurice A. Ferré Park, where PAMM is located, don’t want the museum’s LED billboard – which is close to being completed – shining into their homes and destroying their quality of life.

“The residents determine my priorities,” Pardo said. “I’ve done four forums with an average of 100 to 150 people, and this is very important to them. I have not had anyone tell me they want those oversized LED billboards.”

New Revenue Streams

Roughly three years ago, Arsht Center executives and the institution’s board of directors sought proposals from billboard companies as part of a strategy to make more money to pay for capital and non-operational expenses.

“When we were talking about a bigger budget for the future, it was clear we would need to explore other streams of revenue,” Arsht Center CEO Johann Zietsman told the Biscayne Times in a phone interview. “At the same time, we were looking for ways to create a marquee to display shows that are running at the Arsht Center.”

Other performing arts centers around the country have found success with digital signs on their campuses that promote shows, as well as generate revenue from advertisements, he said. The Arsht put out a request for proposals that was won by Orange Barrel Media, and it commissioned César Pelli, the Argentinian architecture firm that designed its opera house and concert hall, to create two LED billboards.

“The design is very different from a typical billboard,” Zietsman said. “Our signs will be pretty to look at.”

As part of its contract with the Arsht, Orange Barrel is responsible for making sure the LED billboards comply with all city, county, state and federal legal requirements, says Zietsman.

“We left the permitting to the vendor,” he said. “We were completely unaware that a new ordinance was passed last year that enabled these signs.”

Officials for PAMM have made similar claims about needing different sources of income to fund improvements and upkeep of the museum’s waterfront building. During three city commission meetings in January and last month, Mark Rosenblum, PAMM’s chief operations officer, told city commissioners that the museum and Orange Barrel had entered into a 20-year deal. It would receive a guaranteed $1 million in annual revenue from its LED billboard, but that could go as high as $3 million, Rosenblum said.

Construction of PAMM’s LED billboard, which is designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica, began in November 2023 after Orange Barrel obtained a permit under the ordinance Pardo is trying to repeal.

“It is critical that we have capital dollars to keep [PAMM] looking like new,”

Rosenblum said. “The [LED billboard] is the sole source of funding for these non-operating expenses. One hundred percent of our capital budget is the revenue from this project.”

Political Ties

The LED billboard ordinance first gained traction in late 2022 when then Miami City Commissioner Alex Díaz  de la Portilla introduced the legislation. The measure amended the city’s sign laws to allow the oversize LED billboards at the Arsht, Bayfront Park and Maurice A. Ferré Park, which is home to PAMM and the Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science.

Unlike PAMM and Arsht officials, however, Frost Science leadership declined an offer to partner with Orange Barrel to put up an LED billboard sign, and spoke in favor of repealing the ordinance at the January and February city commission meetings.

Díaz de la Portilla was removed from office in September following his arrest on public corruption charges related to a separate city matter. He lost a November runoff to Miami City Commissioner Miguel Gabela. According to Díaz  de la Portilla’s arrest affidavit, two political action committees he controlled received laundered campaign contributions in exchange for his support of a no-bid deal to build a sports complex at a city-owned park.

One of Díaz de la Portilla’s PACs also received contributions linked to Orange Barrel, which have come under intense scrutiny in the battle to rescind the LED billboards ordinance. At the Feb. 8 city commission meeting, several residents, including Biscayne Neighborhoods Association president Rick Madan, accused Orange Barrel of currying political favors from Díaz  de la Portilla in exchange for his support. 

“Alex Díaz de la Portilla received significant contributions from outdoor advertising special interests to support legislation for these oversized and extra height structures,” Madan said. “The proposed 1,800-square-foot billboards would create an undeniable and visible intrusion.”

Over a 24-month span beginning in 2022, a political action committee called Truth is the Daughter of Time raised $470,000 from Orange Barrel and its subsidiary Ike Smart City. The Truth PAC is chaired by Marc Sarnoff, a lawyer and former Miami city commissioner who represents Orange Barrel. The Truth committee contributed $225,000 to Díaz  de la Portilla’s PAC in the 10 months after his LED billboards ordinance was approved in January of last year.

Pardo noted that Díaz de la Portilla’s ordinance received the final greenlight when there was no commissioner representing District 2. In November 2022, Pardo’s predecessor Ken Russell had resigned from office and his interim replacement, Sabina Covo, didn’t assume office until February after winning a special election.

“I am not in position to say there was a quid pro quo,” Pardo said. “I do know that there are [watchdogs] that tracked down the contributions to Sarnoff’s PAC that came from Orange Barrel. If you dig a little bit, you can come to your own conclusion.”

In a phone interview with the Biscayne Times, Sarnoff vehemently denied that his committee’s contributions were meant to curry favor with Díaz de la Portilla.

“As far as the contributions, I determine who is a good advocate for the First Amendment,” Sarnoff said. “Alex Díaz de la Portilla was an incumbent and he is a First Amendment candidate.”

He also started representing Orange Barrel due to the company’s business relationships with PAMM and the Arsht, Sarnoff said.

“We are here for PAMM and Arsht,” he said. “I ended up representing them in order to find a durable financial revenue stream because they are both going through financial straits.”

The Battle Continues

For the Arsht, the two LED billboards would not only generate new revenue, but serve as beacons about programming at its facilities, said Zietsman.

“We have to rely on static vinyl signs on the sides of the buildings,” he said. “We don’t believe it is the right quality of signage for an iconic piece of architecture. We want to improve that.”

The Arsht’s executive team and board of directors are sensitive to the complaints made by residents in Edgewater and downtown Miami, which is why they carefully studied how to minimize the impact of the LED billboards by making sure the signs’ placement won’t allow them to shine into any condominium buildings or single-family homes on the west side of the concert hall, which is along Biscayne Boulevard and NE Second Avenue, said Zietsman.

“Civic leaders are supposed to look at legislation and improve it to meet the needs of their constituents,” he said. “But the fallout means our signs are being challenged. We are doing our best to remedy that.”

At the city commission meetings in January and February, Zietsman and Arsht board members sought to make their case for an exemption.

“We are requesting a friendly amendment which would grandfather the Arsht Center and lift any moratorium to complete the permitting process,” board chair Richard Milstein said at the Feb. 8 meeting. “The Arsht Center is an urban area not related to parks and not related to residential facilities.”

Former Pinecrest Mayor Evelyn Greer, another Arsht board member, echoed Milstein.

“We don’t shine into any neighbors,” she said. “We don’t offend any residents. We were extremely careful.”

With regards to the PAMM LED billboard, lobbyists for Orange Barrel threatened city officials with a lawsuit if the permit for the sign were to be revoked. Sarnoff told the Biscayne Times that PAMM and Orange Barrel have vested rights.

“The permit has already been issued,” he said. “You can’t have after-the-fact legislation once you have established a vested right.”

Still, the number of residents speaking out against the LED billboards consistently outnumbered PAMM and Arsht supporters at the January and February city commission meetings.

“People who live in this area are dead set opposed to this,” said downtown Miami resident Nicole Desidoro at the Feb. 8 meeting. “This will hurt our quality of life. The way we live is not like people who live in Times Square. Please do not create a monster in our neighborhood.”

Pardo insists he is focused on enacting other reforms at Miami City Hall in the coming months.

“We want to make sure we are providing the utmost transparency to residents,” he said. “We are very committed to doing that and will be putting forth some good guardrails on disclosures and conflicts of interest.”

For now, convincing his colleagues that repealing the LED billboard legislation is in the best interest of his constituents is a priority, said the commissioner.

“I wouldn’t describe it as an uphill battle,” Pardo said. “But it is a battle that requires a lot of perseverance and communication.”