Camel’s nose under the tent: Metro digital billboards throughout our city
The Los Angeles City Planning Commission did a major disservice to good planning in Los Angeles on September 14th. Even though the details of the Planning Department’s staff report made it clear to anyone with an ounce of sense — showing what can result from “precedents” like the billboard industry’s carefully-lobbied plan to install bright digital billboards throughout the City of Los Angeles on Metro property (where current zoning prohibits such commercially profitable but otherwise negative visual blight) — the Commission voted to go along with the lobbyists and with Metro and approved the proposal. Take a look at all of the photographic visualizations in the long staff report available online here: tinyurl.com/2p8cj4fx.
Just scan through the report and see what is to come . . . IF the City Council and Mayor go along with the lobbying billboard profiteers’ plans.
METRO VENDOR Allvision LLC rendering of digital billboard designs.
Make no mistake; this issue is not about public service announcements or “transportation communication” on the lighted billboards. It’s about seven flashing advertisements each minute – including near already confusing freeway intersections and even right across from historic landmarks like the Angels Flight® Railway adjacent to Metro’s property at Fourth and Hill Streets in DTLA.
Protecting the visual environment requires eight brave City Councilmembers who are willing to say “no” to the chief elected advocate for this scheme – their City Council President, who also sits as a Board Member of Metro, where he earlier approved this selling out of visual Los Angeles to a billboard company.
If readers are concerned about the future look of Los Angeles, we urge them to seek Councilmembers’ support for common sense and to keep Los Angeles beautiful — rather than voting for an exception to our existing digital billboard restrictions. Tell Councilmembers to just say “NO” to Metro’s proposed “Transportation Communication Network” . . . really just “digital billboard advertising blight for Los Angeles.”
Category: Real Estate