Billboard Blight

I am in accord with Ken Roth of Huntington Beach (letter, Jan. 23) about the billboard blight in Los Angeles. I like to agree with Mayor Tom Bradley that we are now a world class city; that is, until I look around and see the proliferation of billboards. Paris, London, Rome we are not.

Are billboards meant to be read by drivers? I thought drivers were supposed to keep their eyes on the road. Our mailboxes are stuffed with advertisements, and our television set bombards us with more of the same. Billboards are obsolete, and should not block our peripheral views of the unique openness of our hills, valleys, and basin. And this goes for West Hollywood, too. The billboards on Sunset are not pop art--they are schlock art, and negate any charm the strip might still try to muster.

And I don’t even want to talk about telephone poles and wires. (Hey, wasn’t it Mayor Sam Yorty who was going to put all electrical wires underground?)

CONRAD J. DOERR

Los Angeles