Eyeing buses, Greuel proposes selling ads on garbage trucks.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel has proposed selling advertising space on city vehicles, most likely garbage trucks, as a way to fund the hiring of new police officers.

"We have sanitation trucks that drive past more than 700,000 residences every day that people would see," said Greuel, who chairs the council's Government Efficiency Committee. "So we think it's space that people would be willing to pay to advertise on."

It's not clear how much money the effort would bring to city coffers, or how the money would find its way to the police budget. As a guide, city officials point to the $14 million that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority generates from selling ad space on its fleet of 2,500 buses.

The city's 665 garbage trucks are primary candidates for the outdoor ads because they have been outfitted with mountings used for public service announcements and so would require almost no retrofitting. They also have large surfaces and travel slowly through residential neighborhoods.

Last month's proposal came as the City Council grapples with ways to increase the understaffed Los Angeles Police Department, which has about half the number of police per capita than New York.

A November ballot measure that would have raised the county sales tax by half a percent to pay for more police failed to get the required two-thirds vote. The proposed hike would have generated $500 million annually, enough to fund about 5,000 new law enforcement officers countywide over the first few years.

A city plan to hire 250 officers starting this summer using a $62.5 million state refund has already been approved, but the City Council was unable to move on time to get a half-cent sales tax hike on the May ballot to pay for more cops.

L.A.'s chief administrative officer, chief legal analyst and city attorney have been asked to review Greuel's proposal.

One likely issue is the policy for running racy or provocative ads. Last fall, an official at hip-hop clothing line Akademiks admitted to the New York Daily News that one of the ads it had placed on New York buses contained teen slang referencing oral sex. The ads were then banned in New York.

Greuel's proposal, like the MTA policy, includes not accepting tobacco or alcohol ads and making the advertiser responsible for enforcing decency guidelines.

If approved, the garbage truck ad plan will require some budgetary maneuvering to funnel the money toward putting more cops on the street because revenue raised by sanitation activities is supposed to go to the Sanitation Bureau.

Last summer, San Francisco rejected a similar scheme to sell ad rights on city service cars. While San Francisco's buses do carry advertising, the Board of Supervisors wanted to avoid the perception of its employees endorsing any products, according to Adam Van De Water, a Board of Supervisors legislative analyst.

"With the city fleet, you're conducting city business," he said. "For example, a health inspector could be visiting restaurants, and he might be seen as endorsing a product on his car."