L.A. City Government - Ban Billboard Blight

Planning Commission Delays Vote On Hollywood Supergraphic Ban, Wants More Info

Architect's rendering of Hollywood development with supergraphic signs

After hearing warnings that a ban on supergraphic signs in Hollywood could have such dire consequences as stopping new development and forcing businesses to close their doors, the City Planning Commission Thursday directed the planning department to come back next month with more details on why the ban proposed by City Council President Eric Garcetti is needed and what potential effects it might have.

This post was written by dennis on July 22, 2010

Ban on New Supergraphic Signs in Hollywood Contains Huge Exemption, Includes Signs That Would Cover Apartment Windows

View of supergraphic sign on Metropolitan Hotel apartment project above Hollywood freeway. Sign simulation by Skytag, Inc.

L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti’s proposal to ban new supergraphic signs in the Hollywood sign district would exempt a total of 31,000 sq. ft. of the signage that has won some form of city approval, but hasn’t been issued permits by the city building department. Included is a 5,700 sq. ft. sign that would cover many of the windows on a 12-story apartment building clearly visible from the nearby Hollywood freeway.

This post was written by dennis on July 14, 2010

City Council President Seeks Ban on New Supergraphic Signs in Hollywood

New signs like these on Sunset & Vine tower would be banned under Garcetti proposal

Multi-story supergraphic signs advertising everything from movies to liquor to women’s clothing have proliferated throughout Hollywood in the past half dozen years, but L.A. City Council president Eric Garcetti is now calling for a ban on the approval of any more of the signs in the Hollywood Sign district. In a motion to be voted on by the City Council this coming Tuesday, Garcetti cited “community concern” and “ongoing legal questions about the appropriateness of supergraphic signs…”

This post was written by dennis on July 9, 2010

Billboard Company Demands Jury Trial on $10 Million “Lost Profits” Claim Against L.A.

In the latest chapter of a long-running lawsuit in federal court, Regency Outdoor Advertising has filed a demand for a jury trial to determine if the city owes the company at least $10 million in profits lost because the company was denied permits to put up new billboards more than 10 years ago.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled three years ago that the West Hollywood billboard company could not pursue the claim for lost profits, but that ruling was overturned earlier this year by the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals. A settlement conference on the issue of damages was held last week in district court with attorneys for the city and Regency, but no agreement was reached.

This post was written by dennis on June 22, 2010

Los Angeles: 3.8 Million People, 498 Square Miles, Two Sign Inspectors

Since taking office last year, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has been aggressively prosecuting sign law violators by filing criminal charges and civil lawsuits, but deep cuts to the Department of Building and Safety’s Code Enforcement Bureau could seriously hamper those efforts in the coming fiscal year.

This post was written by dennis on June 16, 2010

Public Art Murals: Can Portland Model Solve Legal Dilemma in Los Angeles?

Mural permitted through Portland's public art easement program

The legal black hole into which public art murals have fallen is a source of frustration and even anger for L.A. artists, art organizations, and politicians in areas where murals are significant elements of cultural history and objects of community pride. Sometimes called the mural capital of the world, the city is rapidly losing that distinction to such cities as Philadelphia, which have thriving public programs to encourage new murals and preserve and restore existing ones endangered by ravages of weather and vandalism.

This post was written by dennis on June 7, 2010

Flunking Journalism 101: Los Angeles Business Journal on Digital Signs

Sign for businesses at L.A. mini-mall. Proposed sign ordinance would limit digital conversion of such signs.

Is it foolish to expect a business publication to produce an objective, in-depth article on sign regulations that are opposed by members of the business community? Or is such an idea, in an age when the line between advocacy and reportage seems increasingly blurred, hopelessly outdated?

The article in point, “Stop Sign,” in the May 31 issue of the Los Angeles Business Journal, concerns a new sign ordinance that would prohibit all digital signs outside sign districts, and reduce the allowable number and size of new “on-site” or business signs. The ordinance was approved last year by the City Planning Commission, but hasn’t been acted upon by the City Council. Read More…

Posted under Advertising, City Planning Commission, L.A. City Government

This post was written by dennis on June 2, 2010

Removing Supergraphic Signs: Display of Corporate Responsibility, or Ulterior Motive?

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?

This post was written by dennis on May 22, 2010

Hollywood Building Owner Says City Offered to Allow Illegal Supergraphic Signs in Exchange for Fees and Other Considerations

6464 Sunset Blvd. Photo from Sept. 2009

A Hollywood property owner sued last week by the L.A. City Attorney for allowing illegal supergraphics on two Sunset Blvd. office buildings declared in a federal court filing two years ago that city officials were willing to allow the signs in exchange for fees and other considerations worth more than two million dollars.

This post was written by dennis on May 10, 2010

Ban on Mobile Billboards Moves Forward

Trailer Billboard Parked on Residential Street

People fed up with the unhitched trailer billboards taking up valuable parking spaces and visually blighting L.A. neighborhoods were given a ray of hope today, when a State Assembly committee approved a bill allowing cities to adopt outright bans on this form of advertising. The bill must go through a second committee before it moves on the full assembly. Read press release.

Ban Billboard Blight Protecting the visual environment of Los Angeles

Latest News & Views

Categories

Meta