CITY COUNCIL BANS NEW BILLBOARDS IN LOS ANGELES.Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer Ending a decades-long struggle, the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. on
Tuesday voted to ban all new billboards in the city and to reject a plan
to allow a return of the signs next to freeways.
``This answers two fundamental questions,'' Councilman Jack Weiss Jack Weiss, is a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 5th district. Weiss was elected in 2001 and reelected in 2005. The 5th district includes parts of the Westside and the San Fernando Valley. said about the 12-0 vote. ``Can't this city have a little class - just a little class? And can't this council have a little backbone - just a little backbone.? ``Today, we answered both those questions with a yes.'' Aides to Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California said he plans to sign the ordinances resulting from the council's action on the series of proposals to ban new billboards in the city. The council is scheduled to take action today on a separate proposal that would allow council districts to negotiate with billboard companies on removing some signs and placing them in new areas. ``To be honest, we don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how all this will work out,'' said Ken Spiker Jr., a lobbyist for several sign companies. ``We'll just have to see how it works out in the next year or so. ``After they take action on the sign-reduction measure, we'll have to see how it's implemented, and it's going to take a while to see what happens. We think it will be a good trade-off, but we're not sure.'' Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas Mark Ridley-Thomas (born 1954) is currently a California State Senate where he chairs the Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee]]. He represents the 26th district which includes the communities of Vermont Knolls, Jefferson Park, Leimert Park, Hancock Park, Korean , who had advanced a plan to allow sign companies to place billboards along freeways in certain areas in return for tearing down others in the city, said he was pleased with the ban on new billboards. ``This is an important step, but we still have to deal with the reduction of other signs in the city,'' Ridley-Thomas said. The council credited member Cindy Miscikowski Cindy Miscikowski represented the 11th District on the Los Angeles City Council for two full terms from 1997 through 2005. Previously, she was an aide to Councilman Marvin Braude and the Executive Director of the Skitball Cultural Center in its beginning stages. with pushing through the overall ban on new signs, proposed by her predecessor and former boss, Councilman Marvin Braude Marvin Braude (August 11, 1920—December 7, 2005)served as Los Angeles City Councilman for the 11th district from 1965 to 1997. At various times Mr. Braude (pronounced BROW-dee) served as chair of the Finance and Revenue Committee, the Environmental Quality and Waste . ``This is something that has been a long time in coming and long overdue,'' Miscikowski said. City workers are developing an inventory of the thousands of signs in Los Angeles as part of an effort to enforce permit requirements. Councilman Hal Bernson said the city also needs to seek changes in state laws that allow owners eventually to gain rights to keep illegally built billboards. |
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