MONTEREY PARK : Ban on Billboard Remains in Effect, Pending Election

Monterey Park will keep its ban on billboards until voters have a chance to decide the issue, the City Council pledged last week after activists gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot.

Despite dozens of anti-billboard activists urging an immediate citywide vote, council members delayed for a month a decision on whether residents will cast their ballots on the issue at a special election or wait until the scheduled March, 1997, city election.

The initiative drive came in response to an outdoor advertising firm’s efforts to persuade the council to overturn a five-year ban on billboards so it can place a dozen signs along the city’s freeways.

“It’s going to go to a vote of the people,” Councilwoman Marie T. Purvis said. “Nothing is going to be done until a vote of the people.”

City officials and Regency Outdoor Advertising are negotiating an agreement to allow at least 11 billboards.

However, Residents Against Billboards collected the signatures of 3,500 people, enough to put the issue on the ballot, the city clerk reported Monday.

Billboard opponents, elated at their successful drive, demanded a special election, saying March, 1997, was too long for voters to have to wait. “Set up a special election. That’s what would be best for the city,” initiative leader Lucia Y. Su said.