Billboards exist because they work.  (Lawyers use most of the available billboard space, and lest we forget, in 1977 Arizona lawyers John Bates and Van O’Steen brought lawyer advertising to a billboard near you.) The Arcadia Osborn Neighborhood and several of its members filed a special action against the City of Phoenix Board of Adjustment after the Board granted permission to Clear Channel to relocate three billboards onto the facade of a new building and make two of the billboards digital.  The central issue is whether the local neighborhood or any of its members has standing in court to challenge the Board’s decision.  The trial court said no, and the court of appeals agrees.  Generalized concerns of traffic safety and loss of aesthetic values are not sufficient for standing under either state or federal law. The court distinguishes and limits the holding in Scenic Ariz. v. City of Phoenix Bd. Of Adjustment, finding that decision relied upon the Arizona Highway Beautification Act. The Scenic Act situation is different because that billboard was subject to a specific statute, and these billboards are not. The court of appeals discusses representational standing, direct standing, and holds the basic premise of general public harm is not enough for standing. It is unclear, aside from scenic highways, what will be enough to provide standing. Cf., Johnson v City of Grants Pass, 50 F.4^th 787 (9^th Cir. Sept. 28, 2022 (holding class representatives have standing to challenge City’s anti-camping ordinance and, according to a dissent, giving license to lawlessness and the surrendering of parks and sidewalks to homeless camps). Moreover, adding a request for relief under the declaratory judgment action statute does not convert this special action into something else over which the court can control the Board.   Although billboards may be a minor problem when compared to the deterioration we see on our streets, we end with a few words from Ogden Nash.

I think that I shall never see,

A billboard lovely as a tree.

Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,

I’ll never see a tree at all. 

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