Proposed Rules Allow Valley Banners to Fly

Those 600 “Valley of the Stars” banners across the San Fernando Valley were rescued Friday under a revised plan to regulate the use of city light poles.

Newly proposed regulations on the use of the poles by nonprofit groups generally satisfied David Fleming, chairman of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, the group that posted the banners.

“I think it’s a big improvement,” Fleming said. “I want to read the whole ordinance but it sounds good.”

The original restrictions, drafted by Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton and proposed because of concern about the proliferation of banners by for-profit firms, would have also affected the alliance and other nonprofit groups.

The latest proposal, released Friday, forced the Los Angeles City Council to delay a vote for two weeks so nonprofit groups and others can study the revisions.

“I would like to provide for the increasing possibility of building consensus on this,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick.

The banners became controversial in August when CBS-TV executives complained that the city had allowed rival network ABC to put up 2,000 street banners advertising its shows. Several banners hung across the street from the CBS studios in Studio City.

ABC was ordered to remove the banners, although the company argued that other for-profit concerns, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers, also were allowed to put up street banners.

“I very much think the for-profit [permit] was a mistake and can’t happen again,” Chick said Friday, during a brief debate on the issue.

Deaton agreed: “We have an ordinance in place that is dysfunctional.”

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Deaton first proposed outlawing banners by for-profit companies on city street light poles. He also targeted nonprofits, such as the Valley alliance, that put up banners promoting their causes but that also include the name of their corporate sponsors.

City officials estimate there are about 6,200 banners flying on city streets, about half paid for by corporate sponsors.

But the original restrictions and fees proposed by Deaton created a storm of protest from nonprofit groups trying to promote good causes.

Deaton also had proposed prohibiting banners unless they promote a specific nonprofit event, such as a fund-raising carnival. If allowed, banners could stay up for only 90 days. The alliance banners would probably not have qualified, because they do not promote a specific event.

The revised rules would allow nonprofit groups to put up banners that do not promote a specific event and keep them up for up to 180 days.

The names of corporate sponsors may not take up more than 20% of the space on the banner. The alliance banners devote only 12% of the space to corporate sponsors, Fleming said.

Deaton had originally proposed a fee of $50 per pole. The revised proposal requires a $100 application fee but no fee for each banner, as long as the banner does not include the name of a for-profit sponsor. A fee of $25 per pole would be charged for banners that included sponsors.

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Fleming said the fee might be a problem for the alliance, which would have had to pay $15,000 to put up its banners if the revised ordinance had been in place.

“They instill community pride,” Fleming said. “They are building a cohesiveness in the Valley; so for that reason, they are important.”

Deaton, who met with charity organizers earlier this week, said he is certain there will be other amendments proposed to the ordinance when it comes up in council in two weeks.