As you probably have heard, the Court has ruled that the Billboard settlement that the previous City Attorney had made was illegal. The court is requiring all 105 digital billboard permits to be revoked and return all sites to their
original state. Billboard companies argue that it is unfair to require they
take down their digital billboards when they acted in good faith. In addition
they argue that the City should honor its commitments.
The billboard companies also claim that only a "handful" of vocal activists have objected to digital billboards. This is completely false but we need a strong showing through e-mails to PLUM committee members as well as your presence at Tuesday's PLUM hearing:
Date: Tuesday, November 17th
Time: 1:30 PM -- NOTE CHANGE IN START TIME FOR THIS MEETING
Location: City Hall /Room 350
200 N. Spring Street
Los Angeles, Ca 90012
PLUM agenda item listed below. Submit comments to: Patrice.Lattimore@lacity.org Patrice will deliver your email to all three PLUM members. Free parking is available by calling your councilman. As you will see, this item is first on the agenda, so punctuality will be important. If you want more information, go to www.banbillboardblight.org
08-2020-S5
Motion (Perry - Reyes) relative to requesting the City Attorney to prepare and present an ordinance to amend Ordinance No. 180841 regarding off-site-signs, off-site digital displays and supergraphic signs to implement technical corrections as stated in the Motion.
More information:
Three important issues are to be considered at City Hall early this week:
Tuesday: PLUM Committee at 1:30 has two items pertaining to digital signs/billboards, etc.
Please write to support the Garcetii motion and urge the removal of permits for all digital billboards.
Please write to oppose the Perry motion that seeks to grant vested rights to a sign even if not permit was issued prior to the effective date of the sign ordinance. [Note: correct CF file no. for Perry motion is 08-2020 S5 - not 09-2645).
Wednesday: Advisory Agency at 10 am will consider the proposed "BUNDY VILLAGE" Project at Olympic and Bundy that is expected to generate 20,073 new daily auto trips in the West LA area as a consequence of building two medical office buildings, 385 residential condos, retailing, a supermarket, etc.
If you are in the greater WLA area, please write to oppose the project as currently proposed because infrastructure cannot absorb the proposed traffic. Mitigations do not mitigate the traffic and intersections in our area as well as others will be negatively impacted.
Wednesday: Public Works Committee at 2 pm will consider adopting a motion to develop regulations on cellular telecommunications tower placement. Cell towers are appearing in people's front and rear yards and before a recent court decision, the city could do nothing about it. Now they can establish regulations... and they should!
Sample letters are attached along with additional information. If you wish to circulate this to your own email list, make edits to the letters to reflect your area of concern, geographic area or whatever makes sense for you. The sign and telecommunications towers items are of relevance to the entire city. You can cut and paste comments, you can do further research (go to www.lacity.org and enter the file numbers and you can find out more). Bundy Village planning documents can be accessed from the Planning Dept. website.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFO WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS so that we can make a strong impact! And, send your note today or tomorrow as soon as possible, please. Sorry for the late notice but I hope the sample letters will help to make up for lost time.
More ....
ALERT MESSAGE FROM
COALITION TO BAN BILLBOARD BLIGHT
HEARING TUES., NOV. 17, 2009 - 2 PM, LA CITY HALL #350
Dear Supporters:
The PLUM committee meeting this coming Tuesday is a critical juncture in our battle against the digital billboards that are blighting our neighborhoods. The question before the committee will be what to do in light of the judge's ruling that the lawsuit settlement allowing them was illegal, and the answer should be resoundingly clear: Revoke the permits for the 105 now in operation, and require that they be returned to their former state. However, Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor will be there arguing that this would be highly unfair since they acted in good faith, and others are likely to argue that the city should honor its commitments to businesses even if those commitments were illegally made in secret meetings and through backroom dealings with an ethically-challenged City Attorney.
It is extremely important that the public raise its voice in a loud and collective NO to the idea that these billboards should remain in operation. At the court hearing where the judge threw out the settlement, the billboard companies' attorney claimed that only a "handful" of vocal neighborhood activists objected to digital billboards. This is completely false, of course, but we need to demonstrate it with a strong showing, both through e-mails to the committee members and a presence at the meeting. I know how difficult it is to take time off from work and other commitments to come downtown on a weekday, but please try to do it. And if you are a leader or member of a neighborhood group, send this message to your members and associates and urge them both to e-mail the committee members and come to the meeting at 2 pm. in Room 350 at City Hall.
Thanks again for your support.
Dennis Hathaway,
Pres. Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight
--
Defend Our Public Spaces, Protect Our Visual Environment
www.banbillboardblight.org
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After you have read these items, please take appropriate action.
If you would like to share your comments with others, please email:
gsilver4@earthlink.net
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If after reading the items above, you may wish to email your comments to:
CONTACT YOUR COUNCILMEMBER AND THE MAYOR
"Councilwoman Janice Hahn"
"Councilman Tony Cardenas"
"Councilman Tom LaBonge"
"Councilman Jose Huizar"
"Councilman Richard Alarcon"
"Councilwoman Jan Perry"
"Councilman Ed Reyes" councilmember.reyes@lacity.org,
"Councilman Bernard Parks"
"Councilman Eric Garcetti"
"Councilman Greig Smith"
"Councilman Herb Wessen"
"Councilman Paul Koretz" paul.koretz@lacity.org
"Councilman Dennis Zine"
"CD 2" - open seat
"Councilman Bill Rosendahl"
"Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa"
"S. Gail Goldberg, Planning Director"
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