AEG seeks signage rights in L.A.
The firm that operates Staples Center wants exclusive rights to display billboards at the convention center.
More than 50,000 square feet of billboards and flashing electronic signs -- nearly the size of a football field -- would be hung from the city-owned Los Angeles Convention Center under a proposal being pushed by the developer of Staples Center and LA Live.
The three dozen signs would include digital advertising beaming out to freeway drivers and two mammoth signs covering portions of the center's iconic glass towers.
City officials said the signs would meld with efforts to transform that area of downtown Los Angeles into a vibrant sports and entertainment zone, which includes the Nokia Theatre and will soon feature movie theaters, restaurants and a 54-story luxury hotel.
The first significant step in the review process begins today, when the City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to grant Anschutz Entertainment Group, the company that owns Staples Center, exclusive signage rights to the convention center.
But members of a local neighborhood association are vowing to fight the proposal, saying the area already is starting the resemble the over-the-top glitz of Las Vegas and is disrupting the everyday lives of nearby residents.
"A lot of the neighbors already are complaining about the fact that it's a wall of lights," said James King of the Pico-Union Neighborhood Council. "They are basically living in a carnival district."
The proposal for the billboards and signs was submitted by the convention center on behalf of AEG, which is overseeing the $2.5-billion LA Live development.
A spokesman for AEG on Wednesday said the company would work with local residents to ensure their concerns are addressed and is "amenable to reasonable restrictions" on the brightness of the digital signs as well as the hours they would be operated.
"We have a great track record working with neighborhood groups to take their views into consideration, and will continue to have a dialogue," said AEG spokesman Michael Roth.
King and the president of his neighborhood council, Dr. Mary Ann Hutchinson, said they don't expect to have much luck opposing the AEG proposal because of the company's political clout. AEG already has received up to $270 million in financial help from the city of Los Angeles to build LA Live.
AEG and its executives have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to local politicians and their political projects, including $100,000 to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Partnership for Better Schools and $100,000 to the Mayor's Committee for Government Excellence and Accountability, state and city election records show.
