ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Less is More Beautiful in Anaheim

When campaign contributions are involved, city issues that seem dormant can have a way of getting new life. That certainly is the case now in Anaheim, where several times in the recent years the billboard industry has tried to overturn a sensible ban on freeway billboards that the City Council imposed in 1969.

The latest effort to lift the ban has City Atty. Jack L. White drafting an ordinance at the request of council members Irv Pickler, William D. Ehrle and Bob D. Simpson.

The council should stand by its existing policy and again reject any change when the billboard issue is revisited on July 21.

Anaheim could use some sprucing up to start with; freeway billboards are unsightly at best. They have drawn the special scorn of a citizens group called Anaheim Beautiful, which is trying to make the city just what the name suggests. Sally White, a member of the group, pointed out at a recent council meeting that the city has just begun a very costly effort to place utility lines underground and to remove hundreds of unsightly poles. So why beautify and visually pollute the landscape at the same time?

The city should be consistent. And the beautification effort comes not a moment too soon for those who claim that the city is not as appealing as it ought to be. The city is the focus of a major expansion planned for Disneyland, and a new indoor sport arena carries hopes of making Anaheim even more of a tourist destination.

Moreover, as Mayor Fred Hunter points out, the visual blight of freeway billboards would not be offset with enough revenue to make it worth the city’s while. He estimates that the city receives only $24,000 in permit fees from billboards.

The periodic revival of this issue says something about the flood of money in Anaheim politics. A Times computer search of city campaign records has shown that the billboard industry since 1984 has funneled more than $73,600 to candidates for City Council and for mayor there.

The interest that some officials have in reversing the billboard ban may not be directly traceable to such campaign largess, but the perception of coziness is there.

Ehrle has received $14,665 in donations from billboard industry interests, and Pickler has received $11,250.

Residents have clearly supported the ban in past years. It seems that the prime movers in the sporadic bids to overturn it are officials who have received campaign contributions.

Listen to those who want to beautify the city. Uphold the freeway billboard ban once again.