Going Commercial : County Wants to Rent Space for Ads on Its Vehicles, Other Property

For more than six years, the paid messages have been everywhere at county-run beaches--radio station promos on trash cans; plugs for auto makers on lifeguard trucks; product slogans on high-tide signs, pay telephones and guard-tower thermometers.

On Tuesday, cash-strapped county supervisors finally got the message: They can make even more money renting out ad space on everything else the county owns--buildings, county vehicles and even employees’ uniforms.

Officials from the county Beaches and Harbors Department who have been selling beachfront advertising space since 1984 will help with the new advertising marketing plan, said Richard B. Dixon, county chief administrative officer.

“None of the departments will be off limits that I can think of,” said Chris Klinger, deputy director of beaches, who stressed that the ads will have to be in good taste and approved by the supervisors. “There are unlimited opportunities . . . we’re open to all of them.”

Word of the new county policy caused potential advertisers to light up like billboards Tuesday afternoon.

Bail bondsman Bert Potter said he would be first in line to rent sign space at the Central Jail--”right by the telephones where they’re booked.” He predicted that attorneys will want to advertise on county ambulances if that space is made available.

“I’d be crazy not to be interested in having my name on the front door of fire trucks if I could,” said Sylvia Gilmour, manager of Advanced Restoration Specialists, a Gardena company that does fire damage repair and cleanup work.

Laurie Cohen, owner of Pacific Alarm Systems of Culver City, had the Sheriff’s Department in mind. “I’d like to have my name and number on deputies’ uniform sleeves. It would be more personal than having it on the side of the patrol car,” she said.

Dick Clarke, manager of Love’s Pets in Agoura Hills, said he would like to place an advertisement in the county’s nearby Agoura Animal Shelter. But not on animal-control officers’ shirts or trucks. “It wouldn’t be good to be associated with an officer who didn’t get along well with the public,” he explained.

County workers said they weren’t sure how departments will react to the new policy.

“You put a Hershey bar sign on the back of my uniform and I wouldn’t feel too professional,” said Fire Department Capt. Bob Grafton.

Leon Arnold, acting director of the County Arboretum in Arcadia, said the marketing plan is probably long overdue.

“But out here it will have to be done quite carefully,” Arnold said.

Advertising “detracts from the sylvan setting people expect when they come here. It’s going to have to be done in a sensitive manner.”