A growing number of cash-strapped U.S. cities are turning to selling advertising space on ever more city property to raise funds.
The New York Times reported. Baltimore, Md., has begun selling space on its fire engines, and cities in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee have sold space on their manhole covers and fire hydrants to fast food restaurant KFC.
As the economic downturn forces city governments, school boards and transit systems to search for new sources of revenue, one Baltimore city council member explained the new ads were a way to avoid enacting new taxes. "We can’t tax people out of existence," council member William Welch said. "You have to create alternatives."
Struggling transit systems are using similar tactics, the Times reported, with New York's adding a sponsored name to its signage at one subway station and Cleveland renaming its bus system after a sponsor.
