Billboard Battle A War of Words

Voters in Santa Clarita face a tricky question this November: Would they rather keep 96 old billboards that dot railroad tracks through the center of town or get six new digital versions on the freeway? It’s been a heated debate for the city, better known for its tranquil master-planned streets than the political brawl this has become – with some opponents claiming dirty tactics by supporters of the new freeway signs. Caught in the middle have been businesses that advertise on the boards. In March, the City Council agreed to a deal with L.A. County’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority in which the transit agency offered to cancel billboard leases on its property along the Metrolink commuter line and construct three two-faced digital billboards along the 14 and 5 freeways. Metro hired AllVision Inc., a New York advertising company, to manage the new digital billboards. But after the Council action, small business owners who advertised on the railroad billboards, coupled with residents opposed to digital billboards, launched a petition campaign with financial backing from the California State Outdoor Advertising Association, a trade group in Sacramento. The campaign gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the Nov. 4 ballot as Measure S. The railway boards are owned by CBS Inc., Clear Channel Outdoor Inc. and Edwards Outdoor Advertising. Because Edwards is a local company, the city reached an agreement to buy its 22 boards along the tracks plus 25 located elsewhere for $1.3 million. Those boards will be removed over the next two years, regardless of what happens at the polls. Measure S asks voters if the Metro deal should be approved. So a “yes” vote means the old billboards come down, and the digital billboards go up on the freeway. A “no” vote means the old billboards will stay along the railroad tracks. “It’s been a huge issue,” said City Councilman Bob Kellar, a longtime supporter of removing the old billboards. Divided businesses In the run-up to Election Day, businesses have come down on both sides of the issue. The Yes on S organization is run by PCI Consultants Inc., a Calabasas political consulting firm hired by AllVision. It has mobilized with radio ads, newspaper ads, mailers and lawn signs. It has collected $98,000 this year and spent $50,455 since July 1. Also, it has received endorsement from the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce. James Backer, president of JSB Development and chairman of the chamber, said the group was aware that local small businesses advertised on the old billboards and took it into account before reaching its decision to support Measure S. “Those same billboards are considered blight,” Backer said. “It’s one billboard every 100 to 150 feet – a non-stop array. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, do we have a city government that can make decisions or are we going to send everything to a vote? Since this is going to a vote, I guess we’ll know.” Steve Petzold is an independent real estate broker at Keller Williams and treasurer for the No on Measure S Committee. Although the Metro contract includes a feature giving local businesses a 15 percent discount on the digital billboards, Petzold believes small businesses won’t be able to afford the medium. In addition, the digital boards along the freeway will reach people traveling through, rather than residents of, the Santa Clarita Valley. “The little companies really get scrubbed out. No one’s going to exit the freeway and turn left for a beauty college,” said Petzold, who alleged that the chamber endorsement illustrates how a small group of leaders try to control voters. “It’s all about crony politics, not principles. They heard Bob Kellar say it’s good for business and supported it.” Either way, Petzold feels that the boards of most value to small businesses are the Edwards boards that will come down regardless of the election’s outcome. They are used by auto shops, batting cages and oil-change places, and run about $300 a month, he said. In contrast, freeway digital billboards are dominated by national and regional advertisers with much larger budgets. The petition campaign that Petzold helped organize gathered more than 11,000 verified voter signatures. In the most recent citywide election in April, 15,871 ballots were cast. So the way Petzold sees it, if the people who signed the petition show up at the polls, Measure S should pass by a wide margin. As a result, the two anti-Measure S organizations, Citizens for Billboard Reduction and No on Measure S Committee, have between them collected $233,792 so far this year, but since July 1 they’ve spent only $4,142 according to filings provided by the City of Santa Clarita. The bulk of their spending occurred earlier in the year for signature gathering. Stacy Miller, spokeswoman for the California State Outdoor Advertising Association, said the “no” vote campaign so far has involved small events, but the group is planning a wider outreach during the final weeks of the campaign, though she declined to provide details. “It’s very much a grassroots effort,” she said. “The football game hasn’t finished yet, and I won’t give away the playbook.” Some of the people working to gather signatures to overturn the Metro deal earlier this year allege that blockers, apparently hired by AllVision, tried to squelch the campaign. In a cease-and-desist letter sent to AllVision and PCI Consultants, lawyers for the signature-gatherers said the blockers employed “threatening mannerisms and shouting at the circulators in a specific and coordinated effort to intimidate and dissuade Santa Clarita voters from approaching the circulators.” Several arrests occurred in connection with the campaign. PCI did not respond to a request for comment. Litigation ahead? Kellar said that despite all the fuss the fact is that billboard removal has been an issue dating back to when the city incorporated in 1987. Now it’s possible to solve two problems at once, because the Metro deal will take down billboards and, according to estimates, provide the city with $500,000 to $1 million a year in revenue from the new boards without raising taxes. “To me, this is a great opportunity, and I do believe it will pass,” Kellar said. “If it doesn’t, as I’ve told a lot of people, I hope you love your billboards because you are going to have to look at them for a long time.” Still, if Measure S passes and the Metro deal happens, Petzold believes CBS and Clear Channel will sue the city. Since the city paid to buy Edwards’ boards, the companies can claim it’s unfair for Metro to terminate the leases and take down their boards without compensation, as was originally proposed in the deal. Under a legal strategy called inverse condemnation, the companies can claim the government owes them. Moreover, the city might have to bear the costs of the legal fight. Under the deal, Metro indemnifies the city, but the Metro board has not approved it nor has a Metro official signed the contract because of the upcoming vote. But Kellar believes Metro will sign the agreement if voters approve it, since the transit agency originated it. And he believes a public vote of support would seal the deal. “Anybody can find themselves in litigation,” he said. “I know they are digital billboards, but that’s the future. Look around the state – this is the 21st century. I don’t think anybody can say these (rail line) billboards are beautiful landmarks.”