Inflated Issue or a Monster Eyesore?

The Los Angeles City Council recently asked the city attorney’s office to draft an ordinance to prohibit the use of inflatable advertising figures, signs and giant balloons. The ban would be part of a wider proposed sign ordinance recommended by the council’s Public Safety Committee.

Opponents of the measure say inflatable advertisements are more aesthetically pleasing than traditional billboards and only make up a fraction of all advertising in Los Angeles. Proponents of the ordinance say the signs add to visual blight.

KARIMA A. HAYNES asked area residents whether they consider inflatable signs, billboards and other outdoor advertising an enhancement or an unnecessary detraction.

HARRY WILCOX / 74; retired businessman, Porter Ranch

Those things are pretty bad. There has to be some kind of line drawn for the kinds of gimmicks that you can put on your building. If they are not restricted, it becomes a kind of one-upmanship, where the next guy will have to put up a sign larger than the other guy’s and on and on down the line. When will it end? I don’t want to [pass ordinances] that will hurt someone’s business, but those signs cheapen their businesses. I probably wouldn’t go into a place if it had one of those signs.

Those signs make the city look cheap because they are so overpowering and definitely not needed.

CYNTHIA Z. RAWITCH / 52; Journalism Department chair, Cal State Northridge

The inflatables aren’t so much an issue because most stay briefly and then they are taken away after they serve their purpose, which is to attract attention.

I think the permanent oddball construction adds to the city and gives Los Angeles something that other cities don’t have. The giant Paul Bunyan sign, the large hot dog near the Beverly Center and the Brown Derby, which was originally an actual brown derby that you entered, have given Los Angeles the image of being creative, different and occasionally very, very silly. I sort of like them; they add something to the city.

JOHN ROONEY / 38; president, Valley Economic Development Center, Van Nuys

In a lot of retail districts it’s a real challenge to get noticed, so many businesses resort to aggressive retail promotional displays. They can be effective, but they are also controversial because they detract from the image of the retail corridor. What is more effective is cross-marketing with other retail merchants.

We are involved with the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley in putting together a retail summit where people can learn to collaborate with other businesses to more effectively market their own businesses.

If you look at Times Square [in New York], Hollywood Boulevard or other business districts that have had challenges, it was because they weren’t organized. Some people take desperate measures individually and it compounds the problem. The idea is to work together to help everyone’s business grow.

Businesses can work together by creating Internet sites and working with the city to enforce sign regulations. Our organization can provide consultants who are willing to work with people for free. There are a lot of resources that they can take advantage of.

JOHN J. BUNTE / 68; member, Sunland-Tujunga Citizens Patrol

The large balloons are offensive, but we haven’t had much of a problem with them here [in Sunland-Tujunga]. One person put one up and we told him to take it down, and he did.

We have a lot of problems with [other kinds of] signs in the [San Fernando] Valley. They go from garage sales to lost dogs to computer and gun shows. We have been battling that problem for the last 10 years.

We don’t need a town full of graffiti, and that’s what these signs are. We [the Sunland-Tujunga Citizens Patrol] wipe them out as fast as we see them. I do it because we want a clean city.