State transportation officials say two video billboard structures operated by WOW Media in partnership with the city of Inglewood are illegally located next to an interstate highway.
The California Department of Transportation wrote letters Oct. 30 outlining the violations to WOW, the Los Angeles-based advertising company that built and maintains many of the digital billboards that have cropped up along Inglewoodâs public roads and sidewalks in recent years.
WOWâs billboards have divided public opinion â they bring in revenue for the city but some residents say theyâre an eyesore â and sparked a complicated financial dispute between city officials and Inglewoodâs stadium businesses that spilled over this election through ballot Measure BB.
Now, according to Caltransâ letters, a few of them could be forced to come down or be altered. The transportation agency identified four digital billboard signs on the two structures along the 405 Freeway as violating the stateâs Outdoor Advertising Act, which governs how billboards are placed along highways. The letters state that each violation could result in a fine of $10,000 with additional daily penalties assessed. No such penalties have been charged yet.
A WOW spokesperson said in an email to the LA Local that the signs are fully permitted and that the company plans to appeal the decision. Itâs not the first time the issue has surfaced, the spokesperson said; the billboard company appealed a Caltrans finding in 2022 and met with the transportation agency.
âWhen compliance issues have been raised, WOW has dealt with them forthrightly and transparently,â the spokesperson wrote.
The spokesperson claimed that the violations are the product of a political hit job by the venue owners, who campaigned to hinder WOWâs billboard network through Measure BB. If it passes, the measure â whoâs vote outcome is too close to call â would ban most commercial advertising along Inglewoodâs public roads and sidewalks.
Although the ballot measure deals mainly with what type of content video signs can show, the Caltrans notices cover the structures themselves.
The signs are adjacent to the freeway on La Cienega Boulevard. They sit about 50 feet off the ground, are 60 feet long and 20 feet high. Caltrans claims the billboards violate rules establishing distance requirements from highways to improve public safety and reduce visual clutter.
The violation notices also identify that the signs are located on property owned by Inglewood. A day ahead of the election, proponents of Measure BB asked if whether the city knew that the signs were in violation of Caltrans regulations on advertising near freeways, and if so, when.
âMayor Butts owes the people of Inglewood an explanation,â wrote John Shallman with the Yes on Measure BB campaign. âWhat did he know, when did he know it, and why is City Hall handing over our public streets to a billboard company now facing state enforcement action?â
James Butts did not respond to a request for comment.
Stan Kroenke, owner of theL.A. Rams and SoFi Stadium, and Steve Ballmer, owner of the L.A. Clippers and Intuit Dome, separately sued the city, claiming that the contract it had entered into with WOW violated the terms of the agreements with the respective stadiums. The businesses operating the stadiums have their own advertising networks.
Butts wrote in a letter to Kroenke last year that the billboard lawsuit triggered the cityâs lawyers to review the development agreement that SoFi Stadium had been built on. They found that the voter initiative process that established the agreement in 2015 was not legitimate. The development agreement has since been ruled void. The stadium companies are considering appealing.
Murtaugh Barish and Damien write for the LA Local.
