Ban Billboard Blight Protecting the visual environment of Los Angeles

Supergraphic "Sex and the City 2" ad put up by Skytag, Inc. being removed from Santa Monica Blvd. office building

Northbound travelers on the 405 freeway in West L.A. might be asking what happened to the supergraphic signs that used to be stretched across the face of a 12-story office building on adjacent Sepulveda Blvd., advertising such products as movies, cellphones, fast food, soft drinks, and trips to Hawaii.

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Posted under Billboards, CBS Outdoor, Michael McNeilly, Skytag, Supergraphic Signs, Van Wagner, World Wide Rush

Legally-permitted Van Wagner sign in Hollywood. Company says it will remove more than 60 unpermitted signs at other locations.

If a single supergraphic sign can earn tens of thousands of dollars each month for outdoor advertising companies, why would one of those companies voluntarily decide to remove more than 60 of them various locations in Los Angeles?

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Posted under Billboards, Digital Billboards, L.A. City Government, Van Wagner, World Wide Rush

Five billboard company lobbyists, clockwise from lower left: Ken Spiker, Jr.; Mark Waronek, Laura Brill, Steve Afriat, Kristen Montet Lonner

For the first three months of 2010, the five major billboard companies in L.A. paid $379,000 to firms lobbying on their behalf, according to reports filed with the City Ethics Commission.  At that rate, those companies would exceed the $900,000-plus spent in 2009 by almost 60 per cent by the end of this year.

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Posted under Billboards, CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel, Lamar Advertising, Regency Outdoor, Van Wagner

In 2009, billboard giants Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor, Lamar Advertising and others paid a total of nearly $1 million to firms registered to lobby city officials, according to City Ethics Commission records.   This time period corresponded with the drafting of a new city-wide sign ordinance (still pending before a City Council committee), and several high-profile challenges by community and advocacy groups to permits issued for digital billboards.
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Posted under Billboards, CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel, Digital Billboards, Lamar Advertising, Van Wagner

Good:  L.A. Superior Court Judge Terry Green isn’t an expert on toxic substances, but he performed an expert analysis on the city’s noxious 2006 lawsuit settlement that allowed Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor to put up 840 digital billboards by declaring the agreement that denied the public any voice “poison” and sending it to the shredder.

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Posted under Billboards, CBS Outdoor, City Planning Commission, Clear Channel, Digital Billboards, Freeway Billboards, L.A. City Government, Lamar Advertising, Michael McNeilly, Supergraphics, Van Wagner, World Wide Rush

Billboard at 5607 Melrose Ave. That Van Wagner Wants To Remove In Exchange for Credits

What’s up when a billboard company proposes to take down two full-sized billboards on a major commercial street?  If you’re cynical—and you should be where the outdoor advertising industry is concerned—your first question will be:  What’s in it for the company?  And the answer—quite a lot, potentially—should come as no surprise.

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Posted under Billboards, L.A. City Government, Supergraphics, Uncategorized, Van Wagner