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L.A. City Attorney Urges Companies to Shut Off Digital Billboards

More than 100 digital billboard signs are located throughout L.A., including Hollywood.

Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich called on billboard companies CBS and Clear Channel Outdoor on Thursday to shut off more than 100 digital signs, including those located in Hollywood, citing a court order that determined the permits for them were given out illegally under a 2006 settlement.

Clear Channel Outdoor sent a letter to the city last month threatening to sue if their permits are revoked.

During a news conference held in West Los Angeles on Thursday, Trutanich, who is running for re-election, said attempts by the two companies to appeal the now four-year-old court order were rejected by the California Supreme Court last month.

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"The courts have spoken," he said.

Trutanich said he would work to include digital signs into the "future of our city" by creating new policies that involve the input of various stakeholders, from the sign companies to people who live near the signs and complain the digital displays are a nuisance.

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Clear Channel Outdoor representative David Grabert said Thursday the signs will remain up as they "await the court's specific guidance in their forthcoming order."

"Until this final order, we will continue to legally operate our digital signs in L.A.," he continued.

In the meantime, Clear Channel has participated in the city's working group to develop a "path forward that will allow the reasonable use and location of digital signs in Los Angeles," which he said will "generate millions in salaries and taxes in the city."

Mike Feuer, Trutanich's opponent in the city attorney's race, called the 2006 pact with the two billboard companies to turn 100 signs into digital displays "outrageous," but he dismissed the city attorney's news conference Thursday as a "campaign stunt."

According to Feuer, instead of "standing on a street corner trying to save his job," Trutanich should be "rising to this challenge" to defend against the lawsuit threat by Clear Channel.

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