Council Has Taken Its Time Enforcing Newsrack Cleanup

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When people talk about a cluttered media landscape, they usually don’t mean it literally.


But the Coalition for L.A.’s Enforcement Applied to Newsracks does. More than two years ago, CLEAN, as the activist group is known, successfully lobbied the L.A. City Council for an ordinance to combat what it called “the blight that resulted from dozens if not hundreds of newsracks slapped haphazardly on the city sidewalks.”


Getting an ordinance is one thing, and getting it enforced is another. The group is complaining to the Los Angeles City Council Public Works Committee about the slow pace of implementing the law. Only 12 percent of the city’s 23,500 permitted newsracks have been relocated as the law requires, and all 3,000 of the “re-seeds” are in one neighborhood the South Valley, where newsrack blight was worst.


“There is little visible evidence that progress has been made toward implementation,” CLEAN said in its report to the council panel.


At the committee hearing, Gary Harris of the Bureau of Street Services said the pace of implementation should proceed quicker now that a system has been set up. West Los Angeles is the next neighborhood set for refurbishment, starting this month. Harris estimated it will take about eight months to re-seed West L.A., and three years to complete the process citywide.


The ordinance stipulates that all newsracks conform to a uniform size and material (metal with a pedestal mount) and to a uniform color (ivy green), and that no more than four newsracks may be placed adjacent to each other. Also, each group of four newsracks must be separated from other groups by 48 inches, and no more than 16 newsracks may be placed within 200 feet of sidewalk.


Currently, 105 publications have permits to sell on L.A.’s sidewalks.


Business leaders who testified about their frustration with the implementation included David Burg of the Studio City Neighborhood Council; businessman Jay Handal from West Los Angeles; Tom Paterson, representing the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association; Gary Russell of the Wilshire Center Business Improvement District; and Kerry Morrison of the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance.

Harris stressed that while city inspectors are working their way through the city, merchants or private citizens can call 311 to report hazardous or dilapidated newsracks that need immediate removal.



Voting Miss USA


Viewers of beauty pageants often complain that the pretty girls never win. The complainers got a measure of justice on March 23, when the Miss USA contest allowed viewers to vote online.


But in borrowing a trick from the “American Idol” playbook, the producers raised a new question: What if viewers disagree with the official judges?


Interpolls, a Pasadena-based technology company, handled the vote counting for a “Miss Photogenic” award, based solely on Internet users. The contest site allowed fans to navigate through photos of all 51 contestants and pick their favorite three.


To get the Miss USA gig, Interpolls worked with NBC Universal in Burbank, the network that broadcast the Miss USA ceremony from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.


“Interactive television has become more mainstream than ever, and NBC has been one of the biggest drivers of incorporating voting campaigns into live-broadcast television programs,” said Peter Kim, president of Interpolls. As soon as voting ended, Interpolls tabulated the votes so the hosts could announce Miss Photogenic during the broadcast.


Viewers selected Miss Alabama, Rebecca Moore, as the most photogenic of the contestants, but the panel of judges elected Miss Tennessee, Rachel Smith, Miss USA. But as with “Idol” or “Project Runway” where the runners-up often walk away with lucrative contracts while the winner gets the glory Miss USA will spend the next year touting causes, while Miss Photogenic can dive straight into a modeling career.



Phone-Honed TV


Verizon threw the switch on its telephone-based TV service in five L.A. County cities last week, including Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Santa Monica, Pomona and Torrance. The service was already available in Hermosa Beach, Malibu, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach.


The new areas bring to 350,000 the number of consumers in Southern California who now have access to Verizon’s TV service.


Under a new law, telephone companies can get a video franchising license from the state, rather than on the local municipality level. The California Public Utilities Commission’s approval of Verizon’s TV franchise was the first under the new statute. The license gives the company the right to offer TV service to another 32 communities in Southern California, but Verizon will open service to those areas as it completes construction of its fiber-optic network. AT & T; has also applied for a state video franchise.


To compete with established cable operators, Verizon offers a Premier subscription of 200 digital channels for $42.99 per month. The package includes 21 high-definition channels, and five more HD channels with premium movie subscriptions. It also has a video-on-demand library of 8,600 titles, with 60 percent of those titles available at no additional charge.



Agencies & Accounts


DentsuAmerica has combined the Santa Monica office of subsidiary Colby & Partners with DentsuAmerica’s office in Marina del Rey and renamed the operation DentsuAmerica Los Angeles. The office on Wilshire Blvd. will serve clients Bandai, California Avocado Commission, Japan Airlines and Sutter Home Winery. Rick Colby, former president of C & P;, has left the organization. Muse Communications has launched a new Honda Civic campaign targeting African American car buyers. The TV spot and Webisodes feature film comedians Jackie Long and DeRay Davis. L.A.-based Michaelson Group has gained two new clients, Wright Graphics Inc. and BrainTracks Audio Voiceover Coaching.



Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at

[email protected]

, or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.

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