News for Outdoor Advertising in Los Angeles, CA

L.A. City Council Bans B’boards, Supergraphics in Emergency Move

The Los Angeles City Council has voted to prohibit new digital
billboards, supergraphics and some highway-facing signs, in an
emergency move born of the expectation that a federal judge could soon
issue an injunction making it impossible for the city to ban such
signs.

The city has been rewriting its sign laws, and in the meantime has been passing temporary bans, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The council’s action was in response to a lawsuit challenging the
city’s latest sign moratorium, filed by Liberty Media Group, which said
the city had not followed the correct procedures when it put the
temporary bans in place.

One temporary ban was set to expire on Aug. 17, which coincides with
the council’s summer recess. City officials feared billboard companies
would take advantage of the lapse in time to build new signs before a
new ban could be implemented.

The Los Angeles City Council has been attempting to control digital
signs and billboards since 2002. It has lost a number of cases, which
have gone to federal court, writes the Contra Costa Times.

When it comes back from its recess, the council will consider
whether it will set up special sign districts and improve enforcement.

A lawyer for one billboard company says council members were
overstepping their authority, and added that the public did not have
enough time to review the proposal before the emergency vote, the San
Jose Mercury News reports.

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