A billboard for the biblical epic film 'Noah' starring Russell Crowe is seen March 11, 2014 in Hollywood, California. ; Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Los Angeles may soon see a deluge of billboard applications after a ruling by Superior Court judge Luis A. Lavin struck down the city’s long-held ban. Concluding the ban violated California’s Constitutional promise of free speech, Judge Lavin ruled in favor of billboard giant Lamar Central Outdoor, granting them permission to build 45 digital billboards across the city. This ruling could open the door for more billboard companies hoping to blare their messages across L.A.’s skyline.
The company’s attorney Michael Wright challenged the ban by arguing city billboard laws were poorly written and regulated signs by message rather than by more reasonable attributes such as size, location and appearance. The ruling judge asserts that loopholes in the existing law would allow a business to erect a billboard reading “Joe’s Bagels sold here,” but would not permit the same business to post a billboard advertising “Joe’s Bagels--1 mile ahead.”
But City Attorney Mike Feuer vows to make an appeal, his spokesman Rob Wilcox tells the Los Angeles Times: “The judge’s decision is squarely at odds” with a ruling made by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2011. An appeal will likely mean that the ban will remain intact for now, although Lamar Central Outdoor say they plan to immediately begin rolling out billboards, anyway.
Would it bother you to see more digital billboards in Los Angeles? Was the judge right to strike down the law?
Guests:
Dennis Hathaway, President, Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight
Ray Baker, Vice President of Lamar Advertising in Los Angeles