End Billboard Blight

On the day that the City Council is scheduled to consider a sweeping ordinance to regulate all signage and billboards in Los Angeles, Councilmembers Tom LaBonge and Bill Rosendahl joined billboard activists on the steps of City Hall to rally for stronger regulation than the measure proposes.
Probable Councilmember-Elect Paul Koretz, who is ahead in the vote count for the Fifth Council seat, joined the press conference in support of the motions as well.
“The beauty of Los Angeles is in its neighborhoods and neighborhoods are being overwhelmed by signs,” said Councilmember LaBonge. “If we are going to be serious about reducing the clutter of signs in this City, we must limit ‘sign districts’ to the downtown area, which has the appropriate scale for these images.”
"We need to protect the integrity of our neighborhoods and of our quality of life," Rosendahl said. "We must put and end to the visual blight that threatens the beauty of our City."
Anti-billboard activist Dennis Hathaway attended the press conference in support of the LaBonge motions, as did dozens of neighborhood council and community activists from throughout the city.
The City Council will consider a new comprehensive sign ordinance that governs all billboards and advertising signage in Los Angeles. While Councilmember LaBonge supports the ordinance, he feels it should be even more restrictive.
Three motions, introduced by Councilmember LaBonge and seconded by Mr. Rosendahl, would amend the comprehensive sign ordinance. Two of the motions address sign districts, or areas of the city where larger signs and supergraphics are permitted, and the third limits the brightness, hours of operation and frequency of message change on existing digital billboards.
The first motion restricts all new sign districts to the Downtown Center. The second requires that sign district applications that have been submitted but not yet approved by the City Council must be processed under the new ordinance, not “grandfathered in” under the old rules.