Another corrupt idea crawls out of L.A. City Hall

This one would have developers and other private interests bankroll a special sign division within the Planning Department. The original sign team, which was supposed to overhaul L.A.'s appallingly lax billboard regulations, had been shelved because the city couldn't come up with $500,000 in funding. No problem - just have the companies with a direct stake in the overhaul pay for it. From the Daily News:

The suggestion, backed by city officials like Councilman Ed Reyes, alarms neighborhood leaders. "It's the fox guarding the henhouse," said Steve Sann, president of the Westwood Community Association. "This is a morally bankrupt idea." Supporters of the Sign Unit argue developers already fund the Planning Department. About 80 percent of the department's budget is funded through developers, according to Planning Department Deputy Director Alan Bell. Developers pay processing fees so planners can devote months of city time on major projects like the proposed NBC Universal Evolution project in Universal City and the Westfield Topanga Mall in Canoga Park.

Let's get this straight: The current system for financing the Planning Department is already being compromised, so what's another $500,000 from the billboard people? Severe cutbacks in the Planning Department, it should be noted, are the result of an unwillingness by the council to prioritize city spending.

The battle over the unit comes as the city is engaged in a larger effort to overhaul its sign ordinance, a project delayed for years by litigation from the advertising corporations. The city is looking at creating at least a dozen special districts that would allow greater concentration of signs in certain commercial areas. In return, officials hope to get billboard companies to remove signage from other neighborhoods where they detract from the aesthetics. But in order to draft and implement the regulations properly, the Planning Department argues that it needs the new unit.