Today the Planning Commission approved plans to allow more advertising signage--nearly 50,000 square feet of ads, including static digital ads-- on and around the L.A. Convention Center. Back in fall 2008, the city agreed to sell sign rights on the Convention Center to AEG, developer of L.A. Live, in a deal that nets the city a small bit of revenue: $2 million annually (a figure that'll rise incrementally), plus a portion of the revenue from the advertising. The meeting started off with a letter from city attorney Carmen Trutanich, who asked for a delay in the vote (likely because Trutanich is trying to sort of the mess of the city's billboard policy), but the Planning Commission declined to delay the vote. And while some members of the commission voiced concerns over the fact that the signs would face the freeway, forcing drivers sitting in traffic to stare at the ads, the vote passed. But Planning Commission President William Roschen did instruct city planning staffers to return with new designs for the signs themselves, basically saying that the current design (such as the design of the pole signs), "isn't good enough" for downtown's sign district. Additionally, in their report, city planning staff recommended that no signs be placed on the glass tower of the convention center, and the Planning Commission agreed with that recommendation. It now heads to the Planning & Land Use Management Committee.
· Turning Freeways Over To Advertising: The Convention Center Signage Proposal [Committee to Ban Billboard Blight]
· L.A. Convention Center Getting Lit Up [Curbed LA]
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