James Lebenthal, one of the municipal bond market's biggest cheerleaders, wants to resurrect the slogan that almost wasn't.
Holding a sign with words "Built By Bonds" handsomely displayed, Mr. Lebenthal told a small crowd attending a meeting at Wall Street headquarters of the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association that tax-exempt bonds can lead the city, the state, and the nation out of the recession and provide a better future. The problem, he said, is not enough people outside the industry understand all that municipal bonds do.
So, Mr. Lebenthal, chairman of New York-based Lebenthal & Co., made his pitch along with Louis Coletti, president and chief executive officer of the New York Building Congress, a trade group representing the construction industry. Mr. Lebenthal in a speech to the association's representatives and municipal bond executives said the industry must find a way to change what he called the public's negative perception of the bonding process.
His plan is to use the phrase "Built By Bond" whenever possible.
During the meeting, Mr. Lebenthal said he and the PSA want the city and state to hang the "Built By Bonds" sign on every building, hospital, and bridge in the city that received tax-exempt financing.
Mr. Lebenthal said spreading the words "Built By Bonds" is essential if the industry is to gain wider acceptance among ordinary Americans.
However, he and officials at the Public Securities Association, the municipal industry's trade group, say they were at one time denied the opporunity to display the catchy phrase in public.
The phrase had once been the cornerstone of the PSA advertising campaign for the municipal bond industry. It was part of a promotional video the organization had paid the advertising agency Well Rich Greene BDDP to create in 1987. The slick video features shots of the Golden Gate Bridge, stadiums, and other monuments to tax-exempt financing, while a chorus sings "Built By Bonds."
For almost two years, lawyers for Mr. Lebenthal, the PSA, and jingle writer Steve Karmen, who authored the phrase for a PSA promotional video while working for Wells Rich as an independent contractor, have negotiated over the rights of the "Built By Bonds" slogan. Mr. Karmen also wrote the "I Love New York" song.
The trouble began when Mr. Lebenthal, in one of his frequent television commercials about three years ago, displayed how a project had been "Built By Bonds."
He soon received a letter from Mr. Karmen's lawyers demanding royalties. Mr. Karmen refused to comment.
The legal problems forced the PSA or any member to stop using the phrase in any televised advertising. The PSA, however, continued to show the video during conferences.
Mr. Lebenthal, for his part, slightly edited his television trademark from "Built By Bonds" to "Built By the Tax-Free Municipal Bonds I Sell."
That is until October, when the lawyers representing the three parties finally hashed out a deal. Ms. Ruth said the PSA paid Mr. Karmen a fee to license the phrase from Mr. Karmen. A source said the PSA paid $10,000 to use the phrase. The video cost $250,000, the source added.
Now Mr. Lebenthal can speak his mind. Although the city's Buildings Commissioner Rudolf Rinaldi said the city would not even consider putting the "Built By Bonds" signs on projects funded by tax-exempts, Mr. Lebenthal will continue what he believes is a just cause.
"Form my point of view, [the municipal bond industry] has something good," he said. "This is a visceral communication. It's what people understand."
