BILLBOARD WATCH-With major signage issues pending before the City Council, LA billboard companies spent just over $1 million lobbying city officials in the first six months of 2014, according to City Ethics Commission reports.
Reports are required to be filed quarterly, and the three-month period ending June 30 marked the sixth straight quarter that billboard companies paid more than half a million dollars to firms to lobby on their behalf.
As usual, the leader of the lobbying parade was Clear Channel Outdoor, the billboard division of the Texas media giant, Clear Channel Communications. The company that has mounted a highly-visible public effort to persuade the City Council to allow more digital billboards paid four different lobbying firms a total of $241,000 for the six-month period.
Others writing big checks to lobbyists were CBS Outdoor, at $195,000; JC Decaux, at $189,00; and Lamar Advertising, at $136,000. CBS Outdoor and Lamar, along with Clear Channel, are also members of the Los Angeles Outdoor Advertising Coalition, which spent $122,972 to influence city decision-makers.
Louisiana-based Lamar is suing the city to force it to issue permits for 45 new digital billboards. JC Decaux, a French company with international operations, holds the current advertising contract for LAX and other city airports.
Other lobbying expenditures by billboard companies are as follows:
- Regency Outdoor $62,727
- Van Wagner $60,111 (note: Van Wagner billboards were recently acquired by CBS Outdoor)
- Summit Media $28,937
- National Promotions & Advertising $12,075
- Titan Outdoor $7,500
The Ethics Commission reports show that a total of 23 lobbying firms were registered to lobby on behalf of one or more of the nine billboard companies.
(Dennis Hathaway is the president of the Ban Billboard Blight coalition. He can be reached at: [email protected])
-cw
{module [862]}
{module [662]}
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 71
Pub: Sep 2, 2014
