Opinion: L.A. Unified should think long and hard before taking money from billboard companies

To the editor: The Los Angeles Unified School District should take a lesson from the city of L.A. when dealing with billboard companies. (“Do we really want commercial billboards on public school campuses?” editorial, Dec. 1)

These companies have a voracious and insidious appetite for profit and could not care less about blight or any the of the other issues raised by The Times. They will shamelessly promote themselves as benefactors so long as they get any opportunity to expand the distribution of billboards. I can guarantee that if one company gets a toehold on one school campus, the other companies will expect the same treatment on other campuses.

Billboards have proliferated all over Los Angeles. There is no such thing as “free money” when entering into an agreement with a billboard company.

Rex Altman, Los Angeles

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To the editor: We are one of the highest taxed states in the country. If education is under-funded (and I don’t think it is), then where is all the money going?

David Jankowski, San Diego

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To the editor: As a graduate of Hollywood High School, I am shocked that administrators would look to a billboard company for campus funding. What happened to the school motto “achieve the honorable”?

It is a shame that California’s spending per pupil is about half of that of New York state.

I live in the vicinity of Fairfax High School, and every Sunday its parking lot is turned over to a group that runs an outdoor sale. It is my understanding the school does very well with the proceeds and has upgraded facilities as a result.

That is the “out of the box” thinking that is necessary, not billboards.

Gerald Baruch, Los Angeles

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