RESIDENTS NEED HELP KEEPING SIGNS OFF UTILITY POLLS.

Byline: Robert Hertzberg 

THERE'S a war of attrition going on in the San Fernando Valley, and it's time for the state to take sides.

Up until now, neighborhood activists have been virtually on their own in the battle against illegal commercial signs. When a new batch of signs crops up on telephone polls, streetlights and lamp posts in Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks or West Hills, homeowners and merchants tear them down, trying to rid their communities of clutter.

It's an uphill struggle. Almost as soon as one sign comes down, another takes its place. Placards for a computer swap meet are quickly replaced by ads for weight-loss programs or get-rich-quick schemes. To try to keep ahead of the problem, some people have made patrolling for illegal signs a daily ritual.

These signs are already against the law. In California, the basic statute against posting a commercial sign on public property is more than 85 years old. Unfortunately, the law as now written makes it difficult to go after the people who stand to gain from posting illegal signs.

A bill I carried this year would change that by putting some common-sense tools into the hands of local officials trying to curb sign pollution. This measure, AB 135, won final approval in the Legislature last week and is on the governor's desk. I'm urging him to sign it.

One of the shortcomings of the law now on the books is that it doesn't allow prosecutors to introduce the name, address or telephone number printed on a sign as evidence that the corresponding business is responsible for posting it. Although common sense would tell you that Tom probably had something to do with all those Tom's Pizza signs, the law won't let you or a jury make that leap.

Local ordinances have weaknesses as well. In Los Angeles, the city code considers posting an illegal sign a civil infraction, rather than a criminal offense. In addition, the fines for offenders are too low to discourage unscrupulous businesses from putting up illegal signs.

Right now the only practical way to enforce the state sign law is to catch someone in the act of posting a sign illegally. With the heavy workload facing police and prosecutors, that's difficult to do. While Los Angeles officials removed more than 200,000 illegally posted signs in 1990, by last year that number had shrunk to only 5,000.

As enforcement efforts have dropped off, so have fines levied against those caught posting signs illegally. While 6,000 fines totaling more than $1 million were imposed in 1990, just 23 were imposed last year, bringing in less than $5,000.

It would be easy to dismiss this issue as too minor to warrant much attention. Putting up an illegal sign shouldn't qualify anyone for time in state prison. But experts know that crime gains a foothold most easily in neglected communities, where broken windows go unrepaired and signs of blight are ignored.

That's why my San Fernando Valley Public Safety Advisory Commission, with more than 50 representatives from law enforcement, Neighborhood Watch and other community groups, addressed this problem as one of very high priority. Commission members know that these signs are more than just eyesores. If left unchecked, they can open the door for more serious trouble.

My proposal revives a state statute that considers commercial posting of illegal signs a misdemeanor, a criminal offense. The bill would allow juries to draw the logical inference that a business identified on a sign bears the responsibility for it. That means local officials can go after the true polluters, the fly-by-night businesses paying for these signs, without having to stake out street corners.

The bill as it is drafted deals only with commercial signs. We're not after people posting notices that they've lost a dog or cat.

Members of the Sherman Oaks, Encino and Van Nuys homeowners associations, the mid-Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Sepulveda Boulevard Business Watch, as well as Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick, have voiced their support for AB 135. In the Legislature, the measure won bipartisan support.

In my San Fernando Valley district, we're lucky to have people willing to devote time and energy to try to keep sign pollution at bay. These people have put themselves on the front lines because they care about the neighborhoods where they live and work. As lawmakers, we should be on their side of the fight.