De-sign L.A. to make it safer, prettier
By Sarah Mier
March 4, 2010 9:19 p.m.
Driving in Los Angeles can hardly be called safe.
Even a quick trip to the Westside Pavilion can cause stress due to drivers cutting each other off and the mounds of traffic that blur into a sea of brake lights. Many students want a car, but fear the anxiety that comes with being an L.A. driver.
To compound the safety issues that already surround driving in L.A., the city has allowed the installation of an exorbitant number of digital billboards, 800 of whichwere constructed in 2006 alone. These eyesore billboards are not only a hazard for drivers, but degrade the aesthetic value of the communities they surround.
Billboards have historically been used along freeways for advertising, but with the proliferation of LED lights (UCLA’s dining hall even employs these energy guzzlers to advertise menus) digital billboards have increased dramatically in the last decade. These billboards spring up in many cases without notifying surrounding residents and are an enormous waste of energy, some containing 449,280 bulbs. The U.S. Green Building Council in Texas found that these digital billboards use enough energy per year to power 13 homes. In a state that has a history of energy shortages resulting in rolling blackouts, we cannot afford to expend wasteful energy on these billboards.
On Feb. 17 a homeowners association was victorious in banning three digital billboards, two on Westwood Boulevard and one on Santa Monica Boulevard. These zoning warriors are watching over the L.A. neighborhood that students at UCLA call home. This victory is crucial to promoting a stricter interpretation of various zoning codes. In 2009, the L.A. City Council banned these digital signs, but enforcing compliance has proven difficult. Since fines only run at $100 per sign when erected illegally, it is worth the risk to profit in the hundred of thousands.
These digital billboards are not the only advertising that have come under greater scrutiny. Supergraphic billboards, which are multi-story advertisements on buildings, were also outlawed last year by the city attorney’s office. At the beginning of the week a Santa Monica businessman was jailed on $1 million bail for constructing a sign unlawfully.
The community is finally taking drastic action to curb these mass emblems of consumer culture and dangers to onlooking drivers.
For example, in 2008 we applauded the decision to ban cell phone use in cars without a hands-free device. Bluetooth-clad, we’ve embraced this move to increase safety on the roads. Now these billboards, which in many ways act as roadside TV screens, are finally coming under attack. Only one study has been conducted on the danger these boards pose to drivers, but it was sponsored by a billboard company itself. Studies are currently underway, as they should be, to build substantial proof to get rid of these nuisances.
Secondly, these billboards represent the glamorous, gaudy, ostentatious reputation that is unrightfully attributed to Los Angeles. The city is more than a haven for high-profile celebrities and Hollywood glamour.
Its various neighborhoods inspire artists, immigrants, and blue-collar workers alike. Allowing such ugly demonstrations of consumerism to exist on city streets is overwhelming and is a deterrence to fostering individual culture within neighborhoods.
Silverlake, one of L.A.’s most historic neighborhood, dealt with the infringement of these boards in their community in 2006. These boards fragment the streets and hide family-owned business with large corporate messages of consumption. Los Angeles should resist this type of homogenization. Billboards should be seen off freeways, not from streets that fringe single-home neighborhoods. We should support the Westsiders’ fight to keep our neighborhood pedestrian-friendly.
Even though it seems like these boards are an inevitable part of urban development, we have the power as citizens to make our neighborhoods cleaner, more vibrant, and safer, by the position we take on certain issues. Business interests so often win out, because we as individuals feel we can’t make a difference. The laws are in the making and it is important to show our support. We can do something as simple as writing to our local legislators.
Before Los Angeles is overrun with mass consumer messages and becomes a greater haven for traffic accidents, we should support the movement to ban digital and supergraphic billboards. The health of our city’s culture, infrastructure, and resident safety rely on it.
E-mail Mier at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].
