Signs of Discontent : Transit: Laguna Hills will spend $40,000 to remove bus stop shelters, install ad-free benches.

Tired of ads peddling cigarettes and alcohol and depicting scantily clad women, city officials are ridding the streets of all advertising-covered bus shelters and bus benches.

In this upper-middle-class suburb, where the average household income approaches six figures, officials say huge posters hanging in the shelters are nothing less than urban blight.

“These shelters aren’t made for people, they’re made for commercial advertising,” said Councilwoman Melody Carruth. “Basically, these are billboards.”

Not only are they magnets for graffiti and garbage, council members say, the bus shelters proliferate in some sections of Laguna Hills like endless rows of condominiums.

And the movie posters for films like “Showgirls” are “way too suggestive,” said Councilwoman Cindy Greengold. “It’s just inappropriate.”

There may not be an uprising of residents complaining about the shelters or movie posters, but local leaders say image and community values are important in Laguna Hills.

The city was one of the first in Orange County to implement a no-smoking ordinance. The council recently passed a ban on outdoor camping to keep the homeless from sleeping in public areas, although the disenfranchised would be hard to find here.

Laguna Hills isn’t the only local community to attack bus shelters.

Disgusted with graffiti and filth on bus benches, Anaheim last year threatened to pull advertising from all bus stops. Irvine recently decided to allow advertising only at shelters in commercial areas.

“These shelters take away from the feel of our small, residential community,” Carruth said. “Coupled with our lack of control over the ads, it’s an easy decision to make.”

And a somewhat costly choice.

Over the next six months, the city will pay $40,000 to replace 15 enclosed shelters and 20 advertising-covered benches. In their place, the city will install 25 uncovered and ad-free benches.

The decision has some bus riders at the Laguna Hills Transportation Center somewhat torn. Many said they find some movie posters too explicit but are apprehensive about losing a roof over their heads while they wait for a ride.

“I don’t like some of those movie posters that show women showing their stuff,” said Jack Gregg, a 69-year-old Lake Forest resident who visits relatives in Laguna Hills. “On the other hand, I’m not crazy about getting rained on, either.”

Carruth said bus riders should prepare better for bad weather. “I think what they’re going to have to do is take a bigger umbrella and wear a raincoat,” she said.

Administrators of neighboring Leisure World say their residents won’t be greatly affected because the retirement community has its own bus system.

Although two of the three vendors selling advertising at bus stops are going along with the city’s decision, Coast United Advertising is considering legal action.

“This puts us out of business in Laguna Hills,” said company President Arlen Renfro, who sent a letter to the city threatening a lawsuit. “We haven’t decided yet whether our attorney’s will file.”

Renfro, whose company owns all the bus benches in Laguna Hills, said the city’s decision reflected “somewhat of an attitude like ‘We’re a little bit better than everyone else.’ It really is somewhat of a self-serving point of view.”

Scott Kraft, president of Metro Display Advertising, disagreed with the notion that bus shelters contribute to urban blight.

“We sell local advertising to local businesses that draw people and tax dollars into the community,” he said. “Most cities want more shelters than we can put in.”

City Engineer Ken Rosenfield said the companies do business in Laguna Hills under a permit that expires Dec. 31.

After plowing millions into street and park improvements when Laguna Hills became a city in 1991, council members say getting rid of the shelters was a logical step.

“We have to bring beauty and aesthetics back to our community,” said Councilman R. Craig Scott. “When people come in from outside the community and see how trashy these shelters look, it gives them an idea about the whole community.”