BAD SIGN OF THE TIMES IN ATLANTA? BILLBOARD SPARKS DEBATE

          Urban designers and architects are "horrified by the
     prospect" that Atlanta's new "focus of attention might
     become a giant" six-story greeting-card for Philips Arena,
     according to David Firestone of the N.Y. TIMES, who writes
     that the arena would be "festooned with corporate logos,
     electronic geegaws and a 25-foot clock that has been dubbed
     `Big Ted.'"  The sign, still under construction, "has
     already created a furor in the week since the City Council
     hastily approved it."  Atlanta architect Paul Muldawer:
     "It's an abomination, a `sign in full' ... We tear down our
     history and our past, and we put up this cartoon
     architecture that's all about advertising."  Turner
     officials "fear" the sign "may overshadow" the September 18
     opening of Philips Arena.  Turner Sports President Janet
     Marie Smith, who said that the "monumental size of the
     billboard was chosen to hide a parking structure behind it":
     "I refuse to go on the defensive" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/26).