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LA City Council moves to ban mobile billboards
This photo is one of the mobile billboards taken on a street in the San Fernando Valley within in the last few weeks.
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Courtesy of Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine
)
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LA City Council moves to ban mobile billboards
LA City Council moves to ban mobile billboards
The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday moved to ban mobile billboards.
Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine said the number one complaint he hears is about trailer-mounted billboards parked on city streets.
"Its not about fallen trees, it’s not about the sidewalks, it’s not about potholes, it’s about these trailers that have really irritated the community" said Zine, who represents the West San Fernando Valley.
The former L.A.P.D. motorcycle officer-turned City Councilman said the signs are not just an eyesore.
"They are a traffic hazard, they obstruct visibility, and they take up parking places."
The increasingly popular billboards advertise goods and services from car alarm systems to wedding services to massages.
Zine, who is spearheading the drive to ban the mobile billboards, said there are hundreds across the city.
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"Its like a germ that keeps spreading. And the vandalism's increasing because people don't like them and they'll vandalize them. They'll chop them up. They put spray paint on them."
The City Council voted to ask the city attorney to write an ordinance that would outlaw mobile billboards. The state’s considering a similar measure.
Mobile billboard owners argue that prohibitions violate their First Amendment right to free speech.
West Hollywood is one city that's successfully defended its ordinance that bans mobile billboards, and L.A. hopes to model its law after that one.
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