ItÂ’s Time to Pass a Citywide Sign Ordinance

by Gary Toebben

Advertising is essential for growing a business and our economy. More than 6,000 small and large businesses in Los Angeles use outdoor advertising as part of their strategy to market their goods and services. Outdoor advertising also creates thousands of jobs in our region for people who design and create the advertisements and for those who construct and service billboards and signage.

Despite how important and essential outdoor advertising is for many businesses, the City of L.A. lacks a much-needed policy to regulate outdoor advertising – especially digital billboards. We need clear guidance on where and how digital signs can be used throughout the city, including on-site messaging. That’s why the Chamber, as the largest business organization in the region, has strongly and consistently stood in support of an ordinance that allows for and regulates digital signage on both private and public property throughout L.A. outside of sign districts.

As a city and business community that embraces new technologies and welcomes innovation, we support the use of digital billboards and the creation of regulations that adequately address their use. By allowing digital signs to be located on private and public property, the city has the opportunity to generate a new source of revenue to fund critical public services. More than a thousand municipalities across the country have paved the way by passing digital sign ordinances, and their businesses as well as their cities and neighborhoods are benefitting. It’s time for L.A. to do the same.

Now is the time to create a straight-forward and streamlined ordinance that puts confusion to rest and gives both businesses and neighborhoods a better say over where and how we advertise in our city. This can be a win-win solution for all of us.

And that's The Business Perspective.