LA: Urban Visual Blight

[stinglikeabee]

The first thing a visitor will notice even before the plane touches down on the runway is the amazing amount of billboards in the city of Los Angeles. Here they are omnipresent: beside the freeways, on top of buildings, on bus stops, on buses, on top of one another. The presence of these eyesores is exasperating, given there's a Los Angeles ban on new billboards from 2002. In fact most of the billboards present, including the ones advertising the new Spirit movie, are probably illegal.

Kevin Fry is a spokesman for Scenic America, which focuses on removing such examples of blight from cityscapes across the country. In reference to a proposed deal pushed through by the City Council to plaster billboards and blinking electronic ads on downtown's Convention Center, he says:

The people of Los Angeles have been demoted by their own political leaders from being citizens to being just consumers. They have been transformed from citizens to a giant pool of eyeballs for marketers... They don't understand that Blade Runner is a dystopia, and it is not something to emulate.

Too bad no one told this guy, who claims direct inspiration from the film for his proposed plan to erect an electronic sign 14 stories high along the side of a residential condominium. Residents can still see out their windows, and commuters on the 110 will be treated to a barrage of non-stop advertising on their way to work.

Why are there so many billboards? They spring up at a rate faster than what could possibly be inspected by the city. The owners of these outdoor advertising companies know this, and manage to keep the City Council happy by offering huge sums of moolah. It may seem the huge occurrence of billboards is trivial given that the money is a significant sum that contributes to the city's budget, but left unchecked the 'visual blight' will ruin Los Angeles' character. Instead of palm trees and beaches, the city will be known for being a crowded, dirty town with aggressive ads everywhere.

(Source: LA Weekly)

Comments

[timtwoface.livejournal.com]

I always thought billboards in LA were ridiculously numerous...ugh. Up here they are numerous too, but only on indian reservation land, since other civil bylaws don't apply there.

The words on these signs were changed but this is how a beautiful local view was ruined by signs:

[stinglikeabee.livejournal.com]

It's a disgrace those signs are covering such a lovely view. Surely there's some regulation, and enforcement for those rules? Some people just do not know what they have!

In comparison there's not much to see in LA, but I'd rather have an uncluttered skyline than crass signs for lame ass movies.

[timtwoface.livejournal.com]

No, this is on indian reserve land, and they can do whatever they want as far as eye pollution goes, because it's one of the few ways the reserve makes money.

It's sickening how much power the reserves have up here, honestly...I mean, billboards here and there are fine, but that is ridiculous.

[stinglikeabee.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what you mean about the reserves having too much power.

There are over 100 federally recognised tribes in California, and the richest of these reap millions from gaming. Once in a while we learn of negative stories such as hundreds being disenrolled as members (http://www.laweekly.com/2008-01-03/news/tribal-flush-pechanga-people-disenrolled-en-masse/), or some purposely avoiding paying enough in state taxes, or even fighting against legislation that would allow gaming outside the reservations. This doesn't mean the tribes have so much leeway they can do whatever they want. It usually means the politicians were bought by the Indian special interests to look the other way while this happened. Sure the tribes can claim autonomy all they want, but if the political pressure is there you can bet they'd stay in line like everyone else.