The eyesore above Central Pier in Atlantic City is attracting attention for a different reason.
The billboard made the hit list of the town's Top 10 eyesores, and was supposed to get a makeover but apparently, that can't happen because structurally, it's too fragile.
So for the big holiday weekend, the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority came up with a nice fix – posting a big ad on the empty billboard, inviting visitors to enjoy their stay and to promote this weekend’s fireworks show.
Abraham and Robert Schiff own the billboard atop Central Pier and liked the idea. The ACCVA paid for the vinyl that displays the message and the Schiff brothers paid for the labor to put it all in place, according to the Press of Atlantic City. You can see the before shot in a gallery of the town's eyesores and the after shot in the most recent article.
“They [billboards] look horrible when they’re empty,” said Pinky Kravitz, chairman of the Boardwalk Committee. “When you don’t have anything on the board…it makes it look like a city without anything going on.”
Kravitz hopes that owners of other unrented billboards will let non-profits to use them until they get new clients. The Central Pier billboard is in the ninth spot on the list of Atlantic City’s worst eyesores list.
The city’s mayor, Lorenzo Langford, asked residents to vote on the city’s ugliest properties. It's basically his way of hopefully shaming owners into fixing up their properties.
“Now that the Top 10 list has been compiled, we will develop a plan to repair, clean, beautify and, if necessary, demolish these eyesores in the very near future," Langford said in the initial press release about his Top 10 list.
