Scenic Los Angeles
Our Issues
Scenic Los Angeles is currently tracking several key issues shaping the visual character, safety, and scenic beauty of our community. Read on for more information and to find ways to take action.
STAP Street Furniture Program
Scenic Los Angeles opposed the City’s plans to install digital advertising screens in bus shelters throughout the city as part of its new street furniture program, citing safety, environmental, and aesthetic concerns. Although the program was approved by City Council on September 20, 2022, we continue to monitor it closely as the city faces fresh pressure to re-think this ill-conceived plan.
METRO Transit Communications Program (TCN)
This deceptively named program represents a joint initiative between Metro and the City of LA to install 56 full-sized changing digital billboard structures in LA City, 34 of which will be “freeway-facing” and 22 additional structures that will be “non-freeway-facing” (on our City streets) to generate ad revenues to be split between the City and Metro. The City has already entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the development of a TCN with Metro despite the fact that no public hearings have been held by the City, and before the completion of the environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Interactive Kiosk Experience/IKE Smart Cities LLC
Scenic Los Angeles is closely tracking the city’s plan to install hundreds of digital ad structures on city sidewalks through the Interactive Kiosk Experience, or IKE, program. IKE is being billed as a means of assisting tourists in navigating the city, but it clearly presents an opportunity to put more unwanted digital ads in the public right of way.
Sign Ordinance
In 2009, the City Planning Department prepared a revised Sign Ordinance that would restrict new off-site signs to special sign districts within the 22 areas of the City zoned for high-intensity commercial use. Subsequent amendments called for a mandatory “takedown” of existing billboards in exchange for new static or digital signs in those limited districts. The ordinance also greatly increased the penalties for erecting or maintaining unlawful signs. After numerous hearings and considerable public input, the City Planning Commission approved this ordinance in 2015. Known as Version B+ to distinguish it from earlier versions, updated in 2021, it is still pending in the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee.