Banner days. (The Roving Eye).

EYESORE or eye candy?

It's been three years since Los Angeles City Council tightened the rules for light pole banners, but the flags still fly and the question remains: Do promotional banners blight the city or enhance its aesthetic appeal?

"Some people think they're pollution and some people think they're decoration. Ask 10 people and you'll probably get 10 answers," says Craig Furst, vice president of AAA Sign & Banner, which has installed about a third fewer banners since the City Council spelled out new rules for the signs in 1999. "But if they put any further restrictions on it, the might as well shut the program down."

That's not-likely to happen. Under current rules designed to de-commercialize the displays, city-promoted events and non-profits can install banners. Non-profits pay a $100 licensing fee; if they display a corporate logo, there is an additional $10 or $25 per-banner-fee, depending on how many banners are installed.

The banners first appeared with King Tutankhamen exhibition in the 1970s and hit their stride with the Summer Olympics in 1984. By 1999, there were 6,200 light pole banners flying above Los Angeles' most well traveled thoroughfares.

When the city imposed its new rules--the residue of a flap-over 1,000 bright yellow banners put up by ABC to promote its new television season--it also stopped allowing council members-to waive banner fees, a practice that had become endemic at City Hall.

These days, there are dozens of different banners around the city. Most of the region's museums are represented, as are the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the upcoming Hollywood Parade & Festival and Golden Globe Awards.