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Why Billboards, Dennis?

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Who is Dennis Hathaway, anyway? The LA Times' Steve Lopez profiles the former reporter and writer who is currently leading the city's fight against illegal billboards; Hathaway is quoted in pretty much every news story (both local and national) on the topic: "It began a few years ago, said Hathaway, 65. His wife took their 4-year-old grandson for a walk, and at the corner of Palms and Lincoln boulevards, she noticed three mini billboards on the side of a fabric store, advertising movies. She told Hathaway, who was under the impression that the city had banned off-site advertising, meaning that only a sign for the fabric store itself would have been legal there. Hathaway, who was active in the Venice Neighborhood Council, consulted a planner who told him the signs were no doubt illegal. Just like that, a fire was lit." [LA Times]