West Endicott Billboard Message Deemed Too Controversial

A West Endicott resident says he isn't being allowed to post a message calling attention to a neighborhood eyesore.

The man said he had wanted to rent a space on a billboard across from a closed Endicott Johnson building on North Page Avenue.

Paul Gonzalez said the billboard company - Park Outdoor of Binghamton - indicated he could use the sign for $180 a month.

Gonzalez - whose home is a few blocks away from the abandoned property - said the sign would have asked why the condemned building is still standing.

Gonzalez said a Park Outdoor representative visited him to provide him with a copy of the planned message. He said she indicated she expected the message would be placed on the sign next week.

But Gonzalez received a phone call from the representative a short time later advising him the billboard message was not going up. He said he was told the company "didn't want to do anything controversial."

Gonzalez said he was disappointed the company declined to post his message. He and other neighborhood residents for years have been urging Town of Union officials to take action to have the old building torn down.

Park Outdoor representatives were unavailable to comment on the company policies pertaining to messages deemed to be controversial.

A project to tear down the former factory had been given a "priority ranking" by the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council.

National Pipe and Plastics reportedly wants to move its Vestal offices to the West Endicott site, which is just east of the company's new PVC pipe manufacturing plant.

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