August 16, 2010 09:25 PM UTC

Let PETA Pave the Roads?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Cash-strapped local governments have sometimes turned to the idea of “public-private partnerships” recently, but when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals comes calling to oblige? As the Longmont Times-Call’s John Fryar reports:

“I don’t think it’s a serious proposal,” said George Gerstle, director of the Boulder County Transportation Department.

On Thursday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Gerstle a letter proposing to resurface some of the subdivision roads – if the county would agree to stencil a PETA ad over each such repaved road.

“The ad features a sexy silhouette of a curvaceous woman holding a sign that reads, ‘Word on the Street: Go Vegan! PETA,'” the organization wrote Gerstle…

Gerstle said Friday afternoon that even if PETA’s proposal is serious and not just a publicity stunt, “we don’t want to go down that path of having advertising on our roads.”

Boulder County officials have estimated that it could cost $22 million or more to bring all of the more than 150 miles of paved roads in more than 100 unincorporated residential subdivisions up to good condition in five years, and as much as $25 million if the work were spread over 15 years.

Earlier this year, PETA offered to replace trash cans that Colorado Springs was forced by their ongoing budget crisis to remove from city parks–declined, apparently having scantily-clad PETA girls telling the next generation of El Paso County conservatives to “go vegan” outweighed the benefits of trash cans in the parks. It’s a perennial debate, like ads on school buses, but PETA’s involvement makes the question politically, um, titillating.

Would you let PETA start your town down the slippery slope of ad-supported road maintenance? Why or why not? A poll follows.

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