Billboards May Soon Line Path to Airport

December 2, 2003
Oakland Tribune, CA

Billboards May Soon Line Path to Airport

OAKLAND -- The Port of Oakland wants to greet Oakland International Airport
patrons with billboards and has a politically-connected firm lined up to get
the job done. 

Foster Interstate Media of San Francisco won exclusive negotiating rights to
build billboards along Airport Drive after beating out two larger firms
seeking the lucrative contract. 

It is unclear how many signs the company would construct along the airport's
main road, but it would begin by decorating the former United Airlines
maintenance hangar with advertisements, Airport Director Steve Grossman
said. 

"All the details have yet to be worked out," Grossman said. "It represents a
new revenue source for us, and we think the locations that we will select at
the airport will work very well." 

While it is unknown how much the port will earn from having billboards on
its property, a report by airport staff said the deal with Foster could
generate at least $700,000 a year and potentially more than $1 million. 

Port commissioners are scheduled to vote today to begin talks with Foster
Media to determine how many signs will be constructed and how much money the
port will get. 

Both staff members and the commission's aviation committee recommended the
deal go to Foster. 

Although Foster Media is a small firm compared to the two billboard
heavyweights it defeated for the port deal, the company has powerful allies
in both the state Legislature and city. 

Foster Media's owner and president, John Foster, is a long-time friend of
State Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland) and has donated more than $31,000 since
2001 to Perata and political action committees with connections to the
senator and former Port Commission President Phil Tagami. 

Those allies helped Foster Media gain the right to construct billboards
along Interstate 880 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex in 2001.
Perata wrote and won approval for special state legislation necessary to
allow the signs, and Tagami helped broker the 20-year deal that could earn
Foster more than $100 million. 

Although Foster Media claimed in 2001 the deal would generate roughly $60
million over 20 years for the complex, a recent Coliseum complex budget
showed the deal earning at most$450,000 a year for the Coliseum. 

Grossman and current Port Commission President Frank Kiang said that
Foster's political connections played no role in the port's billboard deal. 

Instead, they said, what earned Foster the recommendation was its
presentation during the bidding process. 

Both pointed to the signs at the Coliseum as examples of how the company
bucks tradition billboard displays to create an advertising medium that is
appealing to the eye. 

"We think these signs will make the drive to the airport and the drive
coming out a lot nicer," Kiang said. "We saw what they could do at the
Coliseum, and we were all very impressed." 

The port staff's report also highlights Foster's potential to create a
unique advertising display. 

"'Mr. Foster and his company specialize in non-traditional, 'spectacular'
type advertising displays," the report states. 

Although other firms said the bidding process was fair, they highlighted
differences between Foster's proposals and their own. 

A representative from Clear Channel Outdoor said the company guaranteed the
port an initial payment of $1 million for the right to construct billboards
and showed staff members it too could build unique signs. 

"Anyone can build those billboards," said Michael Colbruno, Clear Channel
Outdoor's vice president for governmental affairs. "We offered $1 million up
front." 

In addition to beating out two competitors for the deal, Foster Media also
bucked recent city attempts to reduce the number of billboards. 

Two weeks ago, the City Council approved a deal that will force Clear
Channel Outdoor to tear down 31 billboards in city neighborhoods. In
exchange, the company won the right to build two big billboards along a city
freeway. 

But Grossman and Kiang said the port's billboards do not conflict with the
city's desire to reduce signs. 

The signs will not be placed in neighborhoods, they said, and they will not
look like normal billboards. 

"We'll make sure these look absolutely beautiful," Kiang said. "They will
add, rather than detract, from the appearance we have out there." 


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