City to Downsize Sign ‘Monstrosity’

Less than three months after it was erected at the corner of Winnetka Avenue and Devonshire Street, city officials have agreed to remove a large traffic sign that Chatsworth residents had denounced as a “monstrosity” unfit for their quiet neighborhood.

“We are going to take the big sign down and replace it with a smaller sign,” said Tom Swire, a senior engineer with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

Last week, Swire met with a small group of neighbors and said the replacement should be installed within a month. The huge sign contains no text, only directional lane arrows.

For residents like Irene McGee, the decision is a welcome one.

“It was uncalled for and doesn’t belong in a residential area,” she said of the sign that towers over her adjacent home and stretches across three northbound lanes of Winnetka Avenue. “It belongs on a freeway.”

After it was installed on April 15, neighbors immediately mobilized to have it removed, gathering signatures of approximately 250 people and enlisting the assistance of City Councilman Hal Bernson.

“He supported us right from the beginning,” said Lenora Brokaw, who has lived on Tuba Street for 20 years and watched in horror as the sign eclipsed the picturesque view outside her living room window.

Bernson aide Francine Oschin said that there is a clear need to direct northbound traffic on Winnetka Avenue since it essentially dead-ends at a gated community but that a smaller sign would be more appropriate for the area.

“That would be very acceptable to us,” she said. “We believe that would be much more in keeping with the characteristics of the neighborhood.”

Swire said that although the new sign will still rise slightly higher than the backyard walls of nearby homes, it will probably be no more than 5 feet wide.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the Santa Susana Mountains again,” Brokaw said.