Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Scores Billboard Near Yankee Stadium to Be Stripped After Local Outcry

By Patrick Wall | August 14, 2013 3:13pm
 The owner of a billboard near Yankee Stadium advertising the strip club Scores agreed to remove the ad due to pressure from the community.
The owner of a billboard near Yankee Stadium advertising the strip club Scores agreed to remove the ad due to pressure from the community.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Patrick Wall

CONCOURSE — They're going to take it off.

The owner of a billboard near Yankee Stadium agreed to strip down an ad for Scores gentlemen's club after DNAinfo reported vociferous opposition from the community.

OTR Media Group told Community Board 4 late Tuesday that it would replace the ad for Scores after getting a letter from the board Monday that complained the poster undermined the area’s hard-won positive image.

OTR Vice President Dan Barnes said Wednesday that the company will replace the ad as soon as it finds a replacement advertiser — a process Barnes promised to “expedite.”

The billboard ad on East 161st Street and Walton Avenue — which features two women’s faces and the Scores logo — overlooks Joyce Kilmer Park and the Bronx County building, where the borough president and Bronx Supreme Court are based.

Barnes added that the company is sympathetic to the board’s concern about the area's image, saying “We understand what they’re trying to do in the community."

He added that Scores — which did not immediately respond to a request for comment — also appreciated the board’s concerns and agreed to let OTR move the ad.

In fact, the “The World Famous Legendary Gentlemen’s Club,” as Scores’ ad proclaims, may actually have benefited from the brief media buzz, Barnes suggested.

“You can imagine Scores is pretty happy about this,” he quipped. “I’m going to bill them for all the free advertisements.”

While Barnes said he wished the board had given OTR more time to respond before alerting the media, he said he only noticed the faxed letter after seeing news reports.

In the letter, CB 4 District Manager Jose Rodriguez wrote, “Some people may not have felt it was worth doing. But sometimes you have to do the little things.”

Rodriguez said his letter, which was forwarded to the media, had drawn attention not only to the billboard, but also to the thriving neighborhood around it.

He added that, in some neighborhoods, well-connected residents need only ask for such a billboard to be removed, but that in his district, residents and their representatives sometimes have to “stick out your chest a little more” to get results.

“The fact that OTR has agreed with our assessment and understood the sensitivity to the community speaks volumes,” Rodriguez said.