Parent Company Orders Billboard Work Halted

A company that tried to build 25 giant billboards on land owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority without getting city approval was ordered Wednesday to abandon that effort.

In a victory for Los Angeles, officials for Viacom told its subsidiary, STI/Omni Outdoor, to dismantle construction already done on the billboards. That work had begun just hours before a new law prohibiting it took effect Jan. 1.

“Viacom was very troubled by the events that transpired in the last week and a half,” said Viacom spokesman Howard Sunkin.

Ellen Berkowitz, STI/Omni’s attorney, declined comment late Wednesday. One of her assistants told a Superior Court judge last week that the billboard company had acted in accordance with its MTA contract, which gave the firm permission to put up 41 double-sided billboards and 10 kiosks on MTA property in Southern California in exchange for installing toilets at MTA facilities.

MTA officials, however, said the agreement required the company to obtain local permits before erecting any signs. A new law also requires those permits.

Acting at the request of the MTA and the city, the judge ordered STI/Omni to stop construction until a hearing could be held on the matter Jan. 25.

City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said Viacom assured him late Wednesday that STI will “remove all these illegal signs and restore the property to its original condition.”

“This is a major victory in the battle for our neighborhoods,” Delgadillo said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who serves on the MTA board, agreed.

“The action reflected a certain amount of arrogance on the part of [STI/Omni],” he said. “I don’t think it would be fair to paint the whole billboard industry with a broad brush, but they have tried to flex their financial and political muscle for decades in Los Angeles. The message is that even for billboard companies, there is a limit to what government is going to take.”

MTA and city officials discovered on New Year’s Day that STI/Omni had begun sign construction along Los Angeles-area freeways. In the days that followed, city officials pressured parent Viacom to force STI to remove the giant poles--or face the consequences.

“Most of the billboard industry understands that they have to abide by the law,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. “They should be prepared to distance themselves from any company that behaves as renegades.”

City Council members had said on Tuesday they would consider canceling a separate $750-million deal with Viacom, which is set to install and maintain street furniture and public toilets in Los Angeles over the next 20 years.

“Obviously, Viacom wants to save the deal with the city of Los Angeles on the street furniture,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, who serves on the MTA board.

” . . . The message is, you can’t try to sidestep and go around local jurisdiction.”