To find ground zero of L.A's outdoor advertising wars, a good place to start is the Los Angeles City Council's 5th District -- or more specifically, a two-mile stretch of Westwood Boulevard.
Your first stop would be Westwood at Wilshire Boulevard, where supergraphics -- large vinyl images -- are stretched across opposite sides of a 12-story medical building. A second would be near Westwood and National Boulevard, where a six-story office building advertises Johnnie Walker whiskey on one side and TV counselor Dr. Phil on another.
Then there are four other stops on Westwood Boulevard: three intersections with digital billboards and a fourth with yet another supergraphic, all installed in the last two years.
With so many signs going up so quickly, the six candidates running for Jack Weiss' seat on the council are promising to crack down on outdoor advertising, pushing for steeper fines and more rigorous enforcement. Some have taken a harder line, saying there should be no new billboards -- digital or otherwise -- anywhere in the district.
"We need to make sure we get this right this time," said entertainment attorney Robert Schwartz, one of the six candidates in the March 3 election. "The situation has gone on for too long and has certainly gotten way out of control."
Billboard foes contend that the affluent 5th District, which takes in such well-to-do neighborhoods as Bel-Air, Cheviot Hills and Encino, is a tempting target for sign companies seeking new, lucrative advertising space. So far, at least 39 billboards in the district have been converted to digital formats under the terms of a 2006 legal settlement approved by the council.
The district also has become a magnet for new supergraphics, which have gone up over the last three months on the sides of buildings on Wilshire, Santa Monica and Westwood boulevards. And advertising companies have submitted 385 requests to install bus kiosks and other types of street furniture, which display smaller ads.
The six candidates have responded by unveiling an array of proposals, most of them punitive.
Former state Assemblyman Paul Koretz called for billboard companies to be fined $10,000 per day when they have an unpermitted sign -- four times the current amount.
Neighborhood council member David T. Vahedi said he would beef up the enforcement division of the Department of Building and Safety, providing more resources to look for unpermitted signs.
