By David Zahniser
Los Angeles Times
A three-judge panel Monday ordered the removal of 100 digital billboards installed across Los Angeles under a 2006 legal settlement — the latest turn in a decade-long saga surrounding outdoor signs.
The panel convened by the state’s 2nd District Court of Appeal said the City Council never should have allowed advertising companies CBS Outdoor and Clear Channel Outdoor to convert dozens of billboards to electronic formats when existing laws prohibited such changes. “We do not see how the language could be plainer,” the ruling states.
The panel instructed a lower court to order the revocation of permits for electronic signs already permitted under the agreement, many of which were on the Westside.
Neighborhood activists have opposed digital signs for years, saying the brightly lighted images — which can change as frequently as every eight seconds — shone into yards and homes in Hollywood, Westwood and elsewhere. “Needless to say, [it’s] a very happy day for us,” said Dennis Hathaway, president of the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight.
