ABC7 Trailer Sign Coverage From January 27th’s Broadcast
I had a chance to watch this segment (see above) on ABC7 last night, and I must admit it was really uninformative. They tell you there is a dispute, and it’s about trailers, but they never really get to the legal basis for the standoff. Basically, you have the trailers and the underlying notion of a disagreement on whether Los Angeles’ law about parking of unattached trailers is legal or not. The trailer owners treat them as vehicles, therefore the 3 day maximum parking duration in one place rule applies. However, there is a specific ordinance treating trailers as something other than a normal vehicle, and thereby prohibiting them from being parked on city streets entirely.
Now, the video never really gets that information to you about what exactly the legal component of the dispute is, other than residents don’t like them and the people that own them say they’re legal. They get a little lost on Dennis Zine and the cartoon character-esque cowboy hat wearing proprietor of Lone Star Security Bruce Boyer. It seems at the core of the trouble there is a disagreement on the state laws vs local laws on the issue.
Dennis Zine may be able to act as though he’d like to appease upset residents on the issue, but since the city does not seem to be busting hump to tow trailers, there must be some debate at the administrative levels regarding the validity of the the city’s trailer parking laws. You’d figure if they could be constantly towing them and collecting the fines they would, as the city is beyond desperate for cash.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Mobile billboards: they’re popping up everywhere. Viewers told Eyewitness News it bugs them when these ads park in front of their homes or apartments.
They’re popping up all over the place, advertising anything from attorneys to alarm companies to tarot card readers. These mobile ads are very visible — and to some, very annoying.
“We’ve received hundreds of complaints. The number one complaint I get in my district is mobile billboards,” said L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine.
Eyewitness News received a number of e-mails complaining about them as well. Viewers say it’s just more clutter on the roads, and it bugs them when these advertisements are parked in front of homes and apartments and stay there for days.
“People are fed up with them,” said Zine. “They are vandalized, they turn over in the wind. They are a real nuisance in the community.”
There is even a dispute about what to call them: “mobile billboards” or “trailer signs.”
Some don’t want to call them trailers because they fall into a different category according to the vehicle code.
“The issue is: Am I obeying the law? And I am obeying the law,” said mobile billboard proprietor Bruce Boyer.
Boyer is the owner of Lone Star Security. He has dozens of billboards all over the San Fernando Valley. He’s one of several companies that use the mobile ads. He says he gets several parking violations every day.
“The city says you can park here,” said Boyer. “My vehicle is no more clutter than your news van is.”
The main complaint the city gets is that these billboards are left on a street for days. The state vehicle code and local regulations allow any vehicle to stay parked on a road for 72 hours. But after that, if they’re not moved they can be cited or even towed.
“What the individuals do is they move them. They move them a few feet,” said Zine. “They don’t have to move them any great distance. They’ll move them a couple of inches. And they’re basically irritating the neighborhoods.
The city of Los Angeles changed its laws and banned unhitched trailers. Boyer, who’s suing the city, protested by putting billboards right next to some of those signs.
“I have a license plate. The state of California says I can operate on any street or highway in the state. I have every right that everybody else does,” said Boyer.
City officials say they’ve heard your complaints and will use them in their fight to eliminate the signs. For now the battle of the billboards continues on our streets and in court.
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ABC7 To Air Segment On Trailer Signs Wednesday At 11PM
Lone Star Security Sign
An astute reader, 911jason, comments:
Just saw a promo for Eyewitness News on channel 7, they’re doing a story on these mobile billboards Wednesday, January 27th at 11pm. They showed brief clips featuring Dennis Zine and a guy wearing a cowboy hat, who I’m guessing is the Lone Star Security guy.
I indeed saw the same promo, and will try to tune in tomorrow to catch the segment. In my January 23rd post on this subject, another commenter pointed out that it is illegal to park detached trailers in the city of Los Angeles, which I confirmed on the LADOT’s website:
Parking an unattached semi-trailer on any street is prohibited, except for semi-trailers used for carrying personal property or for recreational purposes.
Note from Girard: A semi-trailer is any trailer that requires the support of a towing vehicle to carry it’s weight. These sign trailers are semi-trailers.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, the segment reveals. In the teaser, they showed a shot of a sign exactly like the one I photographed on Saturday (above).
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Halloween Store Gone, Old Circuit City Once Again Empty
Old Circuit City, 6401 Canoga Avenue, signs removed
I never know when you write one of these articles, which ones are going to be popular, and which will be duds. Oddly enough, one of the most popular ones I ever wrote was my mini rant about the abandoned Circuit City store that had become a Halloween Store.
I’ve been keeping my eye on the place, and last week they finally took the banners down and the store once again stands empty. Let’s see what the future holds for this storefront.
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A Plan To Make You Puke: They Want To Put A Costco At Westfield’s “The Village”
In an article which to me feels like they are putting out feelers to see what the community reaction will be, the Daily News puts forth a piece which details pending negotiations between Costco and Westfield to bring a Costco to the southeast corner of Victory and Topanga.
I suggest all Woodland Hills residents read this article closely. The Village is supposed to be nice. I think Costco is great, but the reality is that Warner Center is not the place for the disgusting mess that Costco creates. One only need to look to the Costco in Canoga Park to see an example of the blight that Costco allows to run rampant.
Councilman Dennis Zine is quoted in the article:
Zine conceded there could be community opposition to building one of the popular stores at what is already a busy intersection.
I believe that is a red herring, in that yes the intersection is already absolutely a disgusting traffic nightmare for North/South traffic, but it’s far from the compelling reason to not allow the development of a Costco at the site. Westfield will no doubt already have to address traffic concerns with the city whatever they end up building there.
They also mention in the article that there are a few alternate locations in mind:
Potential sites also included the Catalina Yacht factory and the Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne property at the southeast and northwest corners of Canoga Avenue and Victory Boulevard, respectively.
It is my honest belief that a big box warehouse store at Topanga and Victory would be a major step backwards for our community. The Catalina factory property would be a better choice, in my opinion, in that it is adjacent to the relatively buried Home Depot.
I am actually a big fan of Westfield, but I was disgusted when I read this. See the Daily News article here.
I’d really like you to post your comments on this one. If I’m out of line in my objections, let me know.
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Exit Circuit City, Enter Urban Blight Halloween Super Store
I guess it was inevitable that this would happen. A month or two ago the abandoned and empty old storefront of Circuit City at the corner of Canoga Ave and Victory became occupied by a Halloween store. Shoot me in the head. Realistically, any store that doesn’t have real signage and has to indefinitely rely on vinyl banners should be outlawed, zoned out, whatever it takes.
What’s worse is it seems like these squatters have a tennacious way of sticking around forever. There is also one of these eyesores in Canoga Park also on Canoga Ave. that has been there for far too long. This also what happened several years back when the degenerative movie theatre on the corner of Victory and Topanga went out of business, and became occupied by a similar Halloween store. Thankfully Westfield, it seems, eventually gobbled up the property and placed a glorious Crate and Barrel there.
Speaking of that plaza and its growing list of business fatalities (Black Angus, the now torn down bank that once stood at Victory & Owensmouth, Yankee Doodle’s, and the long abandoned Chinese Restaurant) we can only hope that Westfield has plans to force out the FedEX Kinkos and Cocos and put some more modern ammenities on this parcel. This 1970s relic of a shopping plaza is a really antequated waste of bankable real estate. It’s only conjecture, but I’m pretty sure Westfield owns this stretch of land – as they have some signage for the Westfield Topanga Mall on the property.
Sure, it might sound wrong to be optimistic about a corporate bohemoth like Westfield coming in and revitalizing an area, but honestly they seems like the only folks willing to put money into a place to make it nice.
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