Lower Thonglor residents have been sleepless and furious for months after a massive LED billboard was installed across from their homes.
While the street is famous for the music and lights of its nightlife scene, a massive wraparound billboard now hangs at the bend 120 meters up from Sukhumvit Road, blazing with light beamed into the buildings directly across.
A visit Tuesday found that block of buildings covered with banners protesting the blazing billboard.
“The LED sign belonging to a giant company was illegally put,” “Causing us to be unable to sleep,” “Headache!” and “[The sign] still hasn’t been removed!” they read.
Natthiyan Assanuwong, a 60-year-old resident, told reporters that she and her family have lived in the building for 40 years when in August the sign was lit up so bright it troubled the livelihood of her family. Natthiyan went to file a complaint with the district office and Thonglor police.
“We felt like we’re living in a nightclub all day and all night. The light was too much,” she said.
Natthiyan said she and her family, including her 80-year-old mother, had to wait until the light turned off near midnight to sleep.
“We had a canvas to cover our windows but that made our rooms dark and hot, and that caused us to turn on the air-conditioner all the time,” Natthiyan said.
On Tuesday, the sign was still lit with ads for a condominium project, PTT, Johnny Walker, and Tyson chicken nuggets.
The billboard belongs to the Aqua Ad Public Co. Ltd. According to the Watthana District Office, it is 32 meters long and 8 meters high. It was illegally installed and therefore violates the Building Control Act.
Suchai Pongpianchob of City Hall said he and his team visited the venue yesterday and said that Aqua Ad agreed to lower the light to 20% of full brightness and turn it off at 8pm. The company will be fined THB7,000 (US$130) per day until it completely removes the sign by Feb. 7, Suchai said.
Natthiyan said she doesn’t want any financial compensation, and the offer to reduce its brightness did not help much either. The only thing she wants to happen immediately is for the sign to totally shut down.
