Long Beach Removes Billboard, Prepares for a New East Village

Long Beach Redevelopment and City Councilmembers prepare for the onslaught.

Long Beach Councilmember Suja Lowenthal and the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency celebrated today over the removal of this blight along one of the City's main corridors.

The building itself will also be removed, clearing the way for the Long Beach's $180 million Redevelopment Agency development that will include 221 condominiums and 13,000 sq. ft. of retail space in the East Village area of Long Beach.

Once that's built up again, will the billboard come back? Probably not. Ed Kamlan of the City Manager's Office explained something Los Angeles residents would like to hear as their representatives knock down billboards: "excessive billboards create a visual blight in outdoor settings, particularly on top of buildings, along city corridors and near residential neighborhoods, diminishing the architecture, skylines and view corridors valued by Long Beach residents."

Meanwhile, Los Angeles' billboard problems are plenty.