Scenic America urges sensible billboard policy in California
Scenic America president Kevin Fry visited both California's capital and its largest city recently to advocate for strong, responsible billboard control at the state and local level.
In Sacramento, Fry provided testimony to the State Assembly Committee on Judiciary in support of AB109, a bill proposed by committee chairman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), that would impose a two-year moratorium on digital billboards statewide, pending the outcome of ongoing federal research into whether or how digital signage can be operated safely.
Fry praised the bill for "calling a time-out" to allow the studies to be completed, before more digital billboards proliferate along state and local roadways, potentially endangering California's families and visitors. "Until now," Fry explained, "decisions about digital billboard regulations have been based entirely on the interests of the outdoor advertising industry and nothing else. Existing policies are designed to maximize profits, not protect the public. This bill corrects that imbalance by requiring the state to wait for research to be completed so that the public interest – for the first time – can be factored into policy decisions."
Calling the bill "the only rational and prudent thing" to do in the face of considerable evidence that digital billboards are distracting to drivers, Fry urged legislators to approve AB109. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee but now goes to the Assembly’s Committee on Governmental Organization, where it is expected to meet stiff opposition.
California residents wishing to express their support for Feuer's bill are urged to go here to send an email to their assemblyperson.
From Sacramento, Fry flew to Los Angeles and testified on March 18 at a public meeting of the city’s planning commission, which was scheduled to vote on a new and controversial sign code. Citizen activists, led by the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight and supported by Scenic America, have put increasing pressure on the city to address its dysfunctional billboard regulations and history of catastrophically bad code enforcement, which has led to infamous levels of visual chaos on LA’s streets and trouble in the courts.
The new code would ban digital billboards and so-called "supergraphics," which are enormous signs that drape building facades throughout most of the city, but contains major loopholes that may undermine the purported goal of reducing sign blight. The new code would allow as many as 21 special sign districts where the rules can be broken, as well as "comprehensive sign programs," which can be used by developers to place large billboards on big developments.
In his testimony, Fry criticized the sign district proposal, saying that given the large number of potential districts, "the seeds are planted for further dysfunction." The best approach, he said, was to actually enforce the existing ban on all new billboards and not to create sign districts and exceptions for developers, which invite more signage into the city, not less. Noting that "the city has already been cited by the courts for inconsistency," Fry warned that the sign district provisions "will write those very inconsistencies into the law itself." Fry concluded by asking the commission, "If a visitor came back to the city in two years or five years, would they see more signs or fewer signs? I fear that with the plan as drafted, the answer is almost certainly more."
On the day of the hearing, the commission was unable to get a majority to support or reject the code, and a week later voted to approve it with a compromise amendment that mandates that for every new sign that goes up in a special district, one needs to come down. In spite of this change, Scenic America remains opposed to the large numbers of sign districts and the inherent potential for further political interference, and is concerned that unless the language is strengthened to require that the old signs come down before the new ones go up, the sign companies will continue to game the system, as they have for decades, and blight will continue unabated.
In Sacramento, Fry provided testimony to the State Assembly Committee on Judiciary in support of AB109, a bill proposed by committee chairman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), that would impose a two-year moratorium on digital billboards statewide, pending the outcome of ongoing federal research into whether or how digital signage can be operated safely.Fry praised the bill for "calling a time-out" to allow the studies to be completed, before more digital billboards proliferate along state and local roadways, potentially endangering California's families and visitors. "Until now," Fry explained, "decisions about digital billboard regulations have been based entirely on the interests of the outdoor advertising industry and nothing else. Existing policies are designed to maximize profits, not protect the public. This bill corrects that imbalance by requiring the state to wait for research to be completed so that the public interest – for the first time – can be factored into policy decisions."
Calling the bill "the only rational and prudent thing" to do in the face of considerable evidence that digital billboards are distracting to drivers, Fry urged legislators to approve AB109. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee but now goes to the Assembly’s Committee on Governmental Organization, where it is expected to meet stiff opposition.
California residents wishing to express their support for Feuer's bill are urged to go here to send an email to their assemblyperson.
From Sacramento, Fry flew to Los Angeles and testified on March 18 at a public meeting of the city’s planning commission, which was scheduled to vote on a new and controversial sign code. Citizen activists, led by the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight and supported by Scenic America, have put increasing pressure on the city to address its dysfunctional billboard regulations and history of catastrophically bad code enforcement, which has led to infamous levels of visual chaos on LA’s streets and trouble in the courts.
The new code would ban digital billboards and so-called "supergraphics," which are enormous signs that drape building facades throughout most of the city, but contains major loopholes that may undermine the purported goal of reducing sign blight. The new code would allow as many as 21 special sign districts where the rules can be broken, as well as "comprehensive sign programs," which can be used by developers to place large billboards on big developments.
In his testimony, Fry criticized the sign district proposal, saying that given the large number of potential districts, "the seeds are planted for further dysfunction." The best approach, he said, was to actually enforce the existing ban on all new billboards and not to create sign districts and exceptions for developers, which invite more signage into the city, not less. Noting that "the city has already been cited by the courts for inconsistency," Fry warned that the sign district provisions "will write those very inconsistencies into the law itself." Fry concluded by asking the commission, "If a visitor came back to the city in two years or five years, would they see more signs or fewer signs? I fear that with the plan as drafted, the answer is almost certainly more."
On the day of the hearing, the commission was unable to get a majority to support or reject the code, and a week later voted to approve it with a compromise amendment that mandates that for every new sign that goes up in a special district, one needs to come down. In spite of this change, Scenic America remains opposed to the large numbers of sign districts and the inherent potential for further political interference, and is concerned that unless the language is strengthened to require that the old signs come down before the new ones go up, the sign companies will continue to game the system, as they have for decades, and blight will continue unabated.