ANAHEIM : Billboard Firm Cancels Presentation

Citing “confusion” among residents about its proposal to overturn a 23-year-old ordinance banning freeway billboards, a Los Angeles sign company abruptly canceled a presentation it was to make to the City Council on Tuesday.

In a letter to the council delivered two hours before its meeting, lobbyist Frank Elfend, who represents Regency Outdoor Advertising Inc., said the cancellation was necessary because “significant confusion and misinformation exist regarding the nature of (the company’s) proposal to construct (15) billboards in industrial zones of the city.”

Regency, which unsuccessfully tried in 1986 and 1988 to overturn the ordinance, had hoped to sway the council this time by offering a $30,000 annual payment to the city, two months of free advertising each year to the city and various charities, and preferential treatment to Anaheim businesses.

Regency--a major contributor in recent city political campaigns--last week distributed to the press and the council letters of recommendation from six Anaheim businesses and charities supposedly supporting its cause.

But in an article in Tuesday’s Times Orange County Edition, officials at KEZY radio and the Anaheim Family YMCA said their letters were more than 2 years old and no longer reflected their organizations’ opinions. Salvation Army officials said Regency officials led them to believe that they were endorsing free space for charities on already approved signs.

“Since our objectives are always to seek and obtain community consensus, we feel it is desirable to put this application on hold in order to meet with the community and present the unique aspects of our request,” Elfend wrote to the council.

Elfend is a lobbyist who represents several developers with his partner, attorney Carmen Marinello, and has never lost a key vote before the Anaheim council. He was unavailable for comment Tuesday afternoon.

It was announced Tuesday that a second company, Adams Advertising Inc. of Santa Ana, plans to submit a competing proposal. The company would also erect 15 freeway billboards, but on city property, and would pay Anaheim an annual rent of $420,000.

Freeway billboards were outlawed in Anaheim in the late 1960s after residents complained that they were unsightly. Many residents continue to oppose them and were expected to crowd the council chambers Tuesday, until the presentation was canceled.

There are six freeway billboards in the city, however. Five were in unincorporated areas that the city annexed over the years and were allowed to remain. The other was built by the city at Anaheim Stadium, and the revenue it provides is being used to pay for the Amtrak train station there.

A Times computer search of city campaign records shows that since 1984 Regency and its officers have donated more than $55,000 to Anaheim City Council and mayoral campaigns, which is only $8,000 less than the Disney Co. and its affiliates have given.

Mayor Fred Hunter has received $12,700 from Regency, Councilman William D. Ehrle $12,800, Councilman Tom Daly $6,400, Councilman Irv Pickler $6,300 and Councilman Bob D. Simpson $3,300, records show. Other candidates received the rest.