Outdoor Battle Underway In Santa Clarita
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Santa Clarita is a mere 60 km from Los Angeles, but it appears that the delays and bans limiting digital signage in LA have now found their way over into the nearby city.
Following approval by California’s Santa Clarita City Council involving a deal to take down 118 static billboards along railroad tracks and replace them with just three digital billboards by the freeway, that decision is now the focus of friction that’s turning ugly with arguments, petitions, and threats of law suits the order of the day.
And, interestingly, the California Outdoor Advertising Association – which one would think would be in favour of the decision – is siding with local residents who reportedly have at least 18,000 signatures on a petition to have the city to rescind the agreement or put the issue to a vote by residents.
There are even allegations that one company which would benefit from the deal tried to intimidate citizens from signing the petition.
The county is currently reviewing the petitions, and if at least 11,170 of the signatures are deemed legitimate, the Council must rescind the deal approved March 25 or hold a referendum on the matter.
The billboard reduction effort is part of a long-term beautification plan being conducted with the assistance of the L.A. County Metropolitan Transit Authority, or Metro, which owns the tracks and has taken down similar billboards in other cities.
The Santa Clarita plan involves taking down the 118 print boards on property along the Metrolink commuter line through the heart of the city, while the two-sided digital billboards would be placed along the Antelope Valley and Golden State freeways on land the city controls. Metro hired New York-based AllVision Inc. to manage the new digital billboards, with revenue to be divided among AllVision, Metro and the city.
Allvision is headed by Greg Smith, CEO, formerly head of Titan Outdoor, and most of the company’s senior management formerly worked at either Titan or CBS Outdoor.
The rail line billboards are owned by CBS and Clear Channel, (who together were forced late last year to close 100 digital billboards in L.A.) and Edwards Outdoor Advertising in Santa Clarita. Because Edwards is a local company, the city reached an agreement to buy its 22 boards along the tracks plus a few extras located elsewhere for $1.3 million.
However, CBS and Clear Channel did not receive buyouts, and, faced with losing their billboards without compensation, CBS and Clear Channel asked the COAA to get involved.
Ironically, COAA teamed up with Citizens Against Billboard Blight in Santa Clarita, a grassroots organization whose campaign to overturn the agreement began in May with a combination of local volunteers and paid signature-gatherers at tables in front of area stores. A spokesperson for the group reportedly claimed to have received a phone call that volunteers had been intimidated and yelled at by people whom, according to the San Fernando Valley Business Journal which we credit for much of the background information in this article-Ed, she later learned were hired by AllVision. (We hope to have a statement from Smith – currently out of the country – on this whole situation next week.-Ed)
The campaign sent a cease-and-desist letter to AllVision and PCI Consultants Inc., a political consulting firm working with AllVision. The Los Angeles County Sheriff Department, which handles law enforcement in Santa Clarita, arrested several people in connection with the signature-gathering, but it is not known which side they supported.
So on one side there is the alliance of the state advertising association and an anti-billboard citizens group wanting to kill the deal, and on the other side, the trio of Metro, AllVision and the city hoping to preserve it.
The digital billboards promise to bring about $500,000 in annual revenue for the city. However, much of the deal depends on Metro’s power to cancel the leases with CBS and CC Outdoor without compensation – which, according to Richard Hamlin, lawyer at Hamlin Cody, Los Angeles, could be illegal. The leases were originally signed with railroad companies and when Metro bought the tracks in the early 1990s, it could have cancelled the leases but decided to retain them as a revenue source. If Metro wants the signs down, both it and the city may be exposing themselves to big liability. Hamlin says that the deal also puts Metro in the advertising business, a move he believes is outside its charter.
“This sets a dangerous precedent – a city could go into any business and put competitors out of business,” Hamlin was quoted as saying in the aforementioned San Fernando Valley Business Journal. “Advertising is not a government function.”
For now, the Metro board will not approve the contract with Santa Clarita until the electoral issue is resolved.
The city of Santa Clarita remains in favor of the deal because the Council approved it on a 3-to-1 vote with one abstention. If the petition has sufficient signatures, the Council could rescind the ordinance. Otherwise, a referendum could appear on the November ballot, or the city could hold a special election before then.
And no matter what happens to the existing billboards, if the city decides to erect digital signs, both the citizens group and the COAA want the management agreement with AllVision set aside.
“If the city would have opened the bidding process to the various billboard companies currently operating businesses in Santa Clarita, we believe a better deal providing more revenues to the city for local services would have been reached,” the COAA said in a statement.
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