Federal Judge: City's Billboard Ban Constitutional

• The ignorance of digital is disgusting. The bankrupt state of California deserves what it gets. Digital actually cleans up what most of you despise about billboards. Think about it, research it and you will realize. Oh wait a minute, I forgot, this is CA! You have learned very little and live a liberal utopia that lives off the producers and kills the one thing that keeps America alive, desire to succeed. Congrats on your victory against digital!

• Comment by "Sue" is as facile as it is pathetic - the dying echos of the Jack Weiss campaign. Sadly a significant number of Trutnaich's staff were major Weiss supporters and campaigners. If "Sue" is one of them, then his or her lack of legal knowledge is a shocking reminder of the low standards that former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo required in hiring highly paid political operatives from the outside who had no idea what they were doing. Today's court ruling shows that the people of Los Angeles have at last got a real City Attorney in City Hall, and the clear and precise language of Trutanich's ordinance is a taste of things to come when he tackles the other mess left behind for him to clean up; Medical Marijuana. The 600 or so 'hardship exemption' storefronts that Rocky allowed to open up, should be worried, very worried. There is a new sheriff in town, and the drug dealers posing as medical marijuana dispensaries should think of getting out of town, by sundown.

• #18 major litigation the Trutanich administration has won. We are now back to the starting line. First Clear Channel & others have to prove to the City any billboards they claim to not be illegal. It will sake a building permit - as it now sits & not enlarged. Then come a structural engineers report and a geologists soils report. Certified amount of power that is used. Agree to a 200% electric surcharge, then agree to pay the City 25% of their gross income and pay their land owner/landlord 25% of the gross revenue. If Clear Channel et/al is to greedy to only take $50,000 a month instead $100,000 then bye bye - take you billboards and go polute another City. As it stands, Billboards bring in $1.5 Billion yearly and pays not a penny in taxes. There is a new Sheriff in town - who cannot be bought

• The current city ban on Digital Billboards was passed by the City Council on August 7 2009 (in a session that Councilman Rosendahl attended in spite of being in recovery from surgery). Trutanich has been the City Attorney since July 1. Therefore, the current wording of the ban on Digital Billboards was approved by Trutanich. This is the ban that was upheld today by the same Judge that up to now had been shooting down the ordinances approved by Delgadillo. Sue at 3:38PM (and all the other fake female names HE likes to use) is a paid political operative, hired, most likely by the billboard companies, to do anything HE can to discredit Trutanich. This includes lying and distorting the facts, as HE has done here.

• Good news, but don't give credit to Trutanich on this one. He and his billboard-issue designee had insisted and campaigned on the certainty that the courts would find LA's billboard ban unconstitutional and side with Liberty Media, on the grounds that if any exemptions are granted, all bans are illegal. (Because one court had ruled along those lines in an earlier, specific case.) But meanwhile, a number of councilmembers had insisted on creating exceptions or "sign districts," allowing supergraphics, from Eric Garcetti in Hollywood notably with the W Hotel at Hollywood/highland; Wesson in Koreatown; Reyes/ Hahn/ Parks/ Perry downtown around Staples/ AEG. And in Perry's case, she'd also crafted a separate side deal with ClearChannel/CBS Outdoors that drew the ire of westside/valley opponents like Dennis Hathaway who insisted even one exception opened the city up to billboards anywhere, since no exceptions are enforceable: all or none. This ruling proves Trutanich/ Usher and Hathaway wrong, as well as that pestilent Liberty Media which has blanketed buildings with plastic signs that are also safety and fire dangers. (Giving the city another tool to use in arguing against supergraphics per se.) Supergraphics CAN be selectively banned, and conversely allowed. If this is a victory it's thanks to the compromise and balance of the PREVIOUS council and city attorney's office. (With Rocky trying to make up for his huge screw-up in allowing ClearChannel/CBS to convert regular billboards to fewer but more giant lighted ones.) This means the city CAN regulate where to allow and disallow signs, hopefully allowing for proposed sign districts while banning them elsewhere. HOWEVER Rocky's legacy of tying the city's hands to a tiny fee for all signs regardless of size must be gotten rid of. Cities like West Hollywood have been able to charge huge fees for signs going up on Sunset Strip.

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