'Xanadu' billboard near school is removed

'Xanadu' billboard near school is removed
Ad seen as promoting Ecstasy use
—Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah February 28, 2009

Many people barely noticed the not-so-fine print on a billboard at Broadway and Melrose Streets, across from Nettelhorst School in Lakeview.

But Dale Ray, a teacher who lives in the neighborhood, did. At the top of the billboard promoting the Broadway musical "Xanadu" was a quote from a show review: "It's Like Taking Ecstasy."

"I took a double take," said Ray, 46. "I thought, 'That's not right.'"

In her opinion, the billboard promoted drug use, in close proximity to a school. So she called the office of Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) soon after she saw the sign Tuesday.



On Wednesday, a parent complained to Nettelhorst Principal Cindy Wulbert, and she contacted the alderman too.

"It advertises the use of drugs, and it's right across the street from a school," Wulbert said. "Ecstasy isn't something we'd want to advocate to our students."

By Friday at 1:20 p.m., the billboard had come down.

A spokesman at the ward office said the alderman contacted Clear Channel, the billboard advertising company whose name appears on the billboard, and the sign was taken down. Clear Channel could not be reached for comment.

Many parents hadn't read the sign, but most who saw it wanted it gone. Others shrugged it off. Matt Lorenz, 32, figured his son, a kindergartner, was too young to know about Ecstasy.

And Nettelhorst's middle schoolers?

"I'm sure they've heard worse things on TV or inside the school," he said
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