Limit on Nonprofit Banners On Hold

Alarmed that city bureaucrats have begun asking nonprofit groups to remove banners from Los Angeles streets, the City Council voted Tuesday to halt enforcement until a comprehensive ordinance is approved to regulate the banners.

Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton has proposed that nonprofit groups be allowed to put up street banners only to promote a specific event.

Because the council has not yet acted on the proposal, Councilwoman Laura Chick said it would be premature for the city Public Works Department to begin asking nonprofit groups to take down previously approved banners.

“It is inappropriate for the department to act based on language which has not yet been approved by the council and adopted as city law,” Chick said in a motion adopted by the council.

The council directed that enforcement for nonprofits be halted until the council considers the ordinance.

Chick said she has heard from several nonprofit agencies, including the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly, a San Fernando Valley group that had been forced to take down most of the 50 banners it paid for after getting city permission to put them up.

“It was so unfair to the nonprofits,” said Marilyn Fried, who heads the organization.

The city moved to regulate street banners after complaints that for-profit companies were getting city permission to put up advertising banners on city streets.