Westside : They’re Tired of Billboards

Westwood homeowners are calling on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to spend an estimated $1 million to remove the billboards along Santa Monica Boulevard, saying a more attractive roadway would improve the area’s economy.

The row of billboards, stationed on the boulevard’s median strip in West Los Angeles and Westwood, has been a blight on homes and businesses in the community for years, said Laura Lake, president of the homeowners association Friends of Westwood.

In a letter to Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), the MTA has said it does not want to remove the signs--estimating losses of about $85,000 in annual leasing income for the signs and $1 million for their demolition.

Regardless of the costs, the billboards should go, Lake said.

“What is $1 million, to show good faith with our community?” she said. “The corridor is so ugly, we are embarrassed to take out-of-town visitors home that route.”

Calling the towering billboards a “blight to the street,” Lake said the signs reduce the property values and rents in the area. “In that way, the MTA deprives the county and city of revenue,” she added.

If the MTA refuses to remove the signs, Lake suggested levying a tax on billboards to “help raise money for the cash-strapped county.” . . .