BILLBOARD CONTROVERSY TAKES NEW TURN-Digital billboards on city-owned property could be in our future if Councilmember Paul Krekorian’s latest proposal to the city’s Planning Commission has any traction. In a letter to the commission last week, he said he wants to see a “public-only” solution considered as a way for billboard companies to place their signs outside existing sign districts throughout LA.
Currently, digital and static billboards that are “off-site signs” – away from their actual business addresses -- are permitted only in designated “sign districts.” These are generally in commercial areas of the city such as downtown or Hollywood.
According to a report in Associated Press, Krekorian’s plan would make it possible for advertisers to install their signs on “selected” city-owned properties. The goal is to generate revenue – perhaps tens of millions of dollars -- for the city to use for critical needs such as sidewalk and street repair, tree trimming, public safety and help for the homeless.
Clarifying his stand on digital billboards, Councilmember Krekorian stated, “I believe the city’s sign program should not allow digital signs on private property outside of sign districts, and I oppose a conditional use permitting process for such signs on private property. On a related point, I also strongly oppose any grant of amnesty for unpermitted billboards as part of this program or otherwise.”
Krekorian further emphasized that input from neighborhoods and environmental impact studies would be essential to the process. The proposal calls for the removal of more than four square feet of billboard space for each square foot of new digital signage placed in an off-site area by a billboard company. In some cases, though, if a company has no signs near a new site, it could offer other “community benefits” in exchange.
Business and trade groups support the billboard industry’s push for more digital signs, on both private and public property, pointing to the revenue and jobs that are generated by the advertising industry. And other neighboring cities such as Glendale and West Hollywood have crafted revenue-sharing deals with billboard companies.
But Neighborhood activists say “not so fast.” Many oppose the proliferation of digital billboards that can flash changing images as often as every eight seconds. Dennis Hathaway, president of the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight, cautioned government leaders not to be so desperate for money, stating, “The city should not sell off its visual environment for revenue.”
Meanwhile, as councilmembers and the LA City Planning Commission weigh in on a new sign policy, city budget officials are trying to figure out how to fund the “State of Emergency” declared by city leaders last week – the $100 million allocated to help address the homeless crisis in our city.
(Linda Abrams is Associate Editor at CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 79
Pub: Sep 29, 2015
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