CBS Outdoor will pay more than $4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the City of L.A. alleging that six of its supergraphic advertising placements were not permitted. The terms of the settlement allows CBS Outdoor to continue to advertise using supergraphics, or "tall wall" billboards, on three of the four buildings in question, the exception being 1025 N. Highland. more ›

L.A. has suffered a blow this year in regards to the budget. Job cuts, furloughs, impacted city services and more have had a ripple effect on the pubic (library hours shortened by two days, for one). To avoid more of this in the future, city officials are acting now to save the budget, which includes going to the voters at the March 8th municipal election. November 3rd is the deadline to place items on that ballot, so this week the politicians are at work. more ›

Another supergraphic, another arrest. The L.A. City Attorney's Office on Friday arrested a building owner on 48 misdemeanor charges. 56-year-old Siamak Michael Rahimi, a Santa Monica resident, is accused of violating city law by installing and maintaining supergraphic signs at 9800 South Sepulveda Boulevard, across the street from LAX. more ›

Good news and bad news surround billboard issues in Los Angeles this week. The bad news is that even after significant efforts from the Los Angeles City Council to crack down on illegal supergraphics, advertisements continue to be found on private property causing frustration and dismay to many community members. more ›

Councilmember Herb Wesson wants the city to explore placing a measure on a ballot asking voters to tax billboards. The suggestion comes in a letter (.pdf) from L.A. City Councilmember Herb Wesson offering various ideas on saving the budget. more ›

The Los Angeles City Attorneys office this week filed for a civil law enforcement action in regards to five supergraphic locations around Los Angeles. Vanguard Outdoor LLC sign company, a handful of sign installers and property owners were all named as defendants. "These supergraphic signs were and are illegal in that they were erected, and have been used and maintained, without required permits and inspections," alleges the complaint, which describes them as public nuisances. more ›

Have you noticed any new supergraphics around town? How about walls that usually carry supergraphics that are now blank. LAist reader Josh this morning took the above photo and asked "for as long as I can remember there's been an ad for Apple's latest iDevice covered the north face of this building. Is this the latest casuality in the supergraphic showdown?" more ›

Digital billboards, usually reported in controversial stories about the signage industry, gets a small pat on the back today. Over 80 of their digitized billboards in Los Angeles are bringing attention to the Save the Peak campaign, which is raising money to purchase the land next to the Hollywood Sign. The deadline to give the property owners $12.5 million dollars is April 14th and the Trust needs a little over $3 million. If successful, they will deed the land over to the city of Los Angeles to create extra park space in Griffith Park. more ›

With the Oscars a few days away, it looks like Hollywood and Highland is becoming ground zero in the battle over supergraphics, the large advertisements that often cover whole facades of buildings. Current Los Angeles law bans the installation of news ones. more ›

With most of the illegal signs in Los Angeles advertising products for the entertainment industry, why aren't they the focus of investigations, The Wrap questions today in an article. “We asked that question to the city attorney -- Paramount and DreamWorks made the arrangement for the advertising, why shouldn’t they suffer?” Dennis Hathaway of Ban Billboard Blight says. “But I think that’s legally more than the city attorney wants to bite off right now.” As for the most recent controversial supergraphic at Hollywood and Highland, since taken down and pictured here, Paramount says they were assured it was legal. In a statement, they said they "have promptly investigated any necessary steps to be in full compliance with all applicable laws." So no more illegal signs from Paramount? more ›

Kayvan Setareh, the man accused of posting a large supergraphic on a building at Hollywood and Highland, spent the weekend in jail while being held on $1 million bail. Today in court, however, bail was reduced to $100,000 because Setareh agreed to take the sign down. At issue is the city's ban on new supergraphics, which went into effect last year. The sign, on the other hand, went up last week without any permits. *Updated Post more ›

Supergraphics, those humongous advertising sheets that cover the sides of buildings and covering windows, are the focus of a major move today by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. 27 defendants are named in a civil law enforcement action seeking an injunction, penalties and other remedies for erecting illegal supergraphics, violating... more ›

Billboard, no doubht, are a controversial issue in Los Angeles. Lawsuits against the city are piled up in the courts, ordinances are being passed and new digital billboards and supergraphics envelope the city. So it's only appropriate that the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House are taking 23 billboards and 23 artists for a large-scale art project up and down the city's corridors. more ›

One lawsuit won, some 20 to go. A federal judge sided with Los Angeles in the never-ending battle over billboards this week. It was one of the three lawsuits filed by World Wide Rush, which "argued that it had a right to erect new signs or supergraphics because it requested permits during a four-month period in late 2008" when no ban was in effect, explained the LA Times. "Under the company’s logic, their applications were wrongly denied — therefore they should have a right to put up new supergraphics or signs now even though the city has a ban in place." But Judge Audrey B. Collins said companies can't install signs if no permits were issues. And in any case, it was unclear if the city had actually denied the permits. more ›

Nearly two months into a ban on new digital billboards and supergraphics, a judge sided with the city of Los Angeles after one advertising company challenged the law. Liberty Media said exceptions had been granted in the past and that City Council had violated state law dictating open meetings. U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins said "none of theese claims have merit" in her tentative decision. more ›

For the first time since 2002, the Los Angeles city council today voted to ban new billboards and supergraphics. Take note, this is not a moratorium like in the past, this is a b-a-n. The last time such an action was approved, the city ended up in years of litigation--some of still ongoing--thanks to a pile of lawsuits from the billboard industry who have reportedly installed thousands of illegal billboards in the meantime. Those same folks and a good number of their lobbyists who showed at today's meeting still oppose this and warn of constitutional rights being diminished. A lawyer representing the Roosevelt Hotel said the "ordinance has significant constitutional issues, and would have a legal challenge against it on constitutional grounds for substantive due process, procedural due process, and vague and ambiguous grounds." The ban also the conversion of billboards to digital ones and commercial signs visible from freeways. more ›

It's only a minor loss in the ever-growing billboard problem in Los Angeles. A judge placed an injunction on the city prohibiting them from taking action against SkyTag's 18 unpermitted supergraphics saying they had proof they were up before the December moratorium. While Los Angeles has its problems, New Yorkers are taking illegal billboards into their own hands. Check out the photo to the right, it's just one of many from the recent "Public Ad Campaign." more ›

With billboards and supergraphics as one of the hot topic items at city hall, a new staff report and proposed city sign ordinance has finally been released. It will be voted on next week Wednesday at a City Planning Commission. more ›

After becoming "roadkill" to lawsuits over the past seven years, Los Angeles finally got the upper hand in battling billboard blight (we have thousands of illegal ones) when the 9th Circuit Court yesterday sided with Los Angeles against a billboard company. more ›