The City of Pittsburgh, Pa.’s city council passed a resolution that would allow advertising and sponsorship on specific City-owned assets in order to bring in revenue to help enhance municipal services and facilities.

The City is allowing advertising on its fleet assets, though it specified a number of standards for allowable content and applicable vehicles. For example, the resolution excludes public safety vehicles (police, fire, EMS, etc.) and prohibits any type of advertising that shows alcohol, tobacco, firearms, weapons, and/or sexually-oriented content. The resolution specifies that advertising be "viewpoint neutral," prohibiting ads that display political and religious messages of any kind, for example.

Also, the resolution prohobits advertising from obscuring decals or other visual indicators on a vehicle that identify it as being City-owned.

Other municipalities trying out advertising programs include the Los Angeles Unified School District in California and the City of Milwaukee, Wis.