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ENTREPRENEUR SEEKS TO INSTALL LIGHT POLES THAT CONTAIN
ADS
Published: Thursday, January 12, 1989
Section: WEST
Page: 4
By CAROL GOLDBERGER, Special to the News/Sun-Sentinel
The 25-year-old entrepreneur whose old company installed bus
shelters with advertising signs throughout West Broward soon
will do the same thing again with his new company, only this
time using street lights.
Eric Nadel says his deal with Pembroke Park to donate poles,
install lights and attach signs may be the first of its kind
in the country.
``The only place I know that has them is the country of Egypt,``
he said.
Nadel said he also is trying to negotiate similar contracts
to install poles with lights and signs in Hialeah, unincorporated
areas in Dade and Broward counties and at Joe Robbie Stadium.
At the stadium, Nadel is offering to donate 50 poles, install
them on the parking lot and attach signs to 10 to 15 of them.
Stadium officials have not made a final decision.
Under the agreement between Pembroke Park and Nadel, former
owner of Trendell Inc., now owner of Adalit, Nadel will:
-- Donate 16 to 18 poles to the town.
-- Begin installing the poles on 30th Avenue, from County
Line Road to Pembroke Road, at the end of the month.
All the poles along the street of warehouses are expected
to be installed by the end of April.
-- Attach 4-by-4 signs to each pole.
-- Pay the town $1,000 per pole, per year, until 1994. Then
he will pay 7.5 percent of the yearly advertising revenue
generated by the signs, Mayor Barney Koretsky said.
It usually costs a city about $1,500 to buy a pole. Most municipalities
lease their poles from Florida Power & Light for about
$60 a year.
-- Maintain the poles, repairing or replacing them when needed.
The Town Commission unanimously approved the agreement at
a recent meeting.
``It sounds like a reasonable idea. What have we got to lose?``
said Commissioner Linda Schwartz. ``We`re getting light poles
that we can`t afford to put in ourselves.``
Nadel said he chose to negotiate first with Pembroke Park
for two reasons.
Town officials were pleased, Nadel said, with the bus shelters
he had donated, the signs he had attached and the financial
arrangements he had negotiated.
Nadel struck a similar deal in Plantation.
Pembroke Park initially received $300 per shelter. From the
advertising revenue the signs generate, Nadel`s old firm continues
to pay the town 3 percent to 15 percent per shelter, per year.
The old firm also maintains the shelters, repairing or replacing
them when necessary.
It is a different story, however, putting signs on light poles,
Nadel said.
``The lights are a big gamble,`` he said. ``We`re investing
close to $100,000 in Pembroke Park in the hopes that we`ll
be able to market our advertising space.``
The town also is plagued with a long, dark stretch of 30th
Avenue at Interstate 95, Nadel said. It is a commercial-industrial
area, not a residential neighborhood.
The new lights would deter crime, increase traffic and create
a desirable location for advertising, Nadel said.
Although they voted in favor of the idea, Koretsky and Schwartz
expressed their reservations about it.
A former engineer for the Florida Department of Transportation,
Schwartz said she hoped that town, county and state safety
standards for the installation and use of the light poles
would be written into the contract with Nadel.
Normally, the installation and maintenance of street lights
on public streets is the responsibility of local government.
``I want to make sure they meet DOT standards,`` Schwartz
said.
Koretsky conceded the town is always concerned about street
signs.
``We`re down on sign cluttering,`` he said. ``But we`re talking
about very small signs on the poles that wouldn`t even require
a variance.``
If he is successful locally, Nadel says he has a dream of
expanding his idea across the United States.
``The more lights a road has, the safer it is,`` he said.
``And most counties and states cannot afford all the lights
they need. A lot of Dade and Broward is dark.``
Copyright
1989, SUN-SENTINEL Unauthorized reproduction prohibited
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