Banning Billboards

The ordinance would mean no new billboards and limits on high-tech digital boards.

"More than 350 Texas cities have banned new billboard construction. Most of the proposed El Paso ordinance is based on more than 60 years of national and international studies on signs and their impact on drivers."

Mike Churchman owns Lynx Exhibits, a Downtown exhibit hall, with his wife, Laurie Paternoster. Churchman estimates that 70 percent of their visitors found out about them through the billboards they use. The ordinance, Churchman said, will drive up the cost of advertising and hurt small businesses.

"If we don't have billboards, we're faced with potentially going out of business," he said."