From the L.A. Times...
Thursday, 12 February 2009 13:11
L.A. council supports two-year state moratorium on electronic billboards
February 12, 2009
A divided Los Angeles City Council threw its support Wednesday behind a proposed two-year moratorium on electronic billboards drafted by state lawmakers from the L.A. area.
The council first passed its own ban on billboards in 2002 but has been struggling since then to enforce it. The proposed state ban would go into effect Jan. 1, a date that concerns some council members who fear that it could lead to an influx of new signs during the interim.
The legislation's author, Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), has argued a two-year ban is necessary to study whether the signs are safe. There are several federal studies underway, including one by the Federal Highway Administration measuring eye movements of motorists when confronted by the signs.
Four City Council members -- Richard Alarcon, Tony Cardenas, Bernard C. Parks and Ed Reyes -- said they could not support the bill because they were concerned a state moratorium would encroach on the city's control over billboard rules.
Calling the bill "a wolf in sheep's clothing," Alarcon said he was concerned there were no safeguards to prevent the state -- given its dire economic predicament -- from poaching money that the city might glean from digital billboard operators. Before the city put a temporary ban on billboard signs, officials collected a permit fee for each new billboard and inspection fees annually for each sign. Alarcon said that if the state seizes control, state officials could oversee the franchising of digital signs -- quashing potential opportunities for L.A. communities to negotiate directly with digital billboard companies for money to help their areas.
"This is just the first step in the state taking control of these signs and taking the opportunity to generate revenue away from us and putting it in the state coffers in the midst of the worst budget crisis in the state's history," Alarcon said.
Feuer said he was surprised by Alarcon's comments and not certain what revenue the councilman was referring to.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Zoning Administrator meets with Help Group to sentence John Weber mural Thursday, 12 February 2009 11:23
Monday, February 9 – Zoning Administrator R. Nicholas Brown met with the Help Group to discuss plans for their future school. The Help Group will be opening a new school for children with spectrum disorders in the buildings that used to house the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center. The Help Group is planning to remove a city-funded mural, painted for the JCC and surrounding community by John Pitman Weber in 1992. The mural is one of the only in the city that remains well maintained and free of graffiti. Brown opened the hearing with issues of the mural stating that, though he sympathized with the cause, he had no legal grounds on which to require its maintenance. More or less ending the discussion before it began, Brown “suggested” that if supporters wished to discuss the mural with Help Group representatives, they could remain after hours. Brown moved on to zoning issues at which point Help Group President Dr. Barbara Firestone waxed poetic about the “greater good of all children living in Los Angeles.” She explained their intention to build a fence that would enable the school to be visible from the street and vice versa, expressing “we don’t want [the school] to look institutionalized, we don’t want it to look like a prison.”
Present at the meeting were President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Barbara Firestone and Senior Vice President Tom Comp, along with the architect and two lawyers. In support of the mural were Ava Porter from SPARC and Les Paley, a board member of the Valley Cities JCC and early advocate for the mural. When, after the meeting, taking R. Brown’s suggestion, Ava Porter asked for a final comment on the Help Group’s justification for removal of the mural, and how exactly it is not consistent with their mission, Tom Comp responded that he would not give a comment because he didn’t “have to.” The Help Group will eliminate the mural. Our final recourse is to ask them to coat the mural with a protective layer before whitewashing over it, instead of sandblasting the mural off the wall. It is a simple step to take and this way, even if the mural is hidden from view, it will be preserved, allowing future generations to bring it back, if they so decide. You can make a quick phone call to the Help Group's VP/Public Affairs, John Farrimond, at (818) 779-5212. In the midst of the Mural Rescue Program Petition campaign one mural, 'Toward Freedom' by John Pitman Weber, needs your help! Thursday, 05 February 2009 18:20
Yet another Los Angeles mural is on the verge of extinction but this time it is not due to neglect. Rather, it is because a new non-profit wishes to deliberately eliminate the mural from one of its walls, not only by whitewashing but by sandblasting. This mural is the only public work in LA by artist John Pitman Weber. Los Angeles residents have the opportunity to stop this atrocity by demanding that the non-profit be allowed to move into the building ONLY IF the Help Group maintains this precious artwork. Details below:
The Help Group – a non-profit that serves children with special needs related to autism, Asperger's disorder, learning disabilities, ADHD, mental retardation, abuse and emotional problems – is posed to move into the building where the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center used to reside. On its exterior, facing Burbank Blvd is a mural entitled Toward Freedom by artist John Pitman Weber. On July 16, 2008, pursuant to the Visual Artist's Rights Act (VARA) and the California Artist Preservation Act (CAPA), Mr. John Farrimond, VP of The Help Group, sent Weber a 90-day notice of intent to remove the work. Toward Freedom, like all of SPARC’s Neighborhood Pride Program murals, was painted for a specific community – a community that still resides in that neighborhood, despite the fact that the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center has moved to Van Nuys. The mural followed “the SPARC process . . . [It] was approved by the Cultural Affairs Commission. It [was] not a privately contracted work (Judith F. Baca).” To eliminate it is to disregard the community’s efforts and history. The Help Group justifies the mural’s removal by maintaining that it is not consistent with their mission and non-sectarian status. But Exodus, the mural’s subject, is not a story that is relegated solely to the Hebrew Bible. It is a story of Diaspora, a story that all immigrant groups, and therefore most of the inhabitants of the United States, can relate to. “It is relevant to all people including the children who will use the new building (Judith F. Baca).” To further emphasize the mural’s universality, John Weber has offered to remove any religious iconography, but the Help Group still insists on sandblasting the mural off of the center’s wall. The question becomes, “What is the ‘Help Group’ teaching the children by destroying art? Who are they helping but themselves at our expense (Judith F. Baca)?” The Group claims to be the “largest, most innovative and comprehensive nonprofit organization of its kind in the United States serving children with special needs.” They say that they “believe that dignity, hope, opportunity and love are the birthrights of all children.” But they are attempting to eliminate, not only a work of art, not only a work that was supported by an entire community, not only a piece which intended to “touch on UNIVERSAL themes of human history . . . histories of virtually every group in the US whether they got here as immigrants or as enslaved or conquered peoples (John Pitman Weber),” but a mural that is one of the very few works of Los Angeles’ mural legacy that still brightly shines on a city wall, well preserved and free of graffiti. To eliminate it is to kill a rare bird. We are vehemently opposed to the removal of this mural and will not support the Help Group’s desire to move into the old Valley Cities Jewish Community Center, unless they remain consistent with their own proclaimed mission by affirming the mural’s right to remain on a community wall. Refer to Case ZA87-14725. Petition Campaign Continues..... Wednesday, 04 February 2009 15:36
The Mural Rescue Program Petition is gaining momentum. We are up to 600+ signatures. Keep up the good work! Once you have signed, pass the word on to your friends and family. And, if you haven't yet, please click here to sign the petition
Below are a few of the comments petition signers have left: 424. Kirk Williams I assigned my brother to take pictures of the murals in and around Echo Park. Good thing because now these neighborhood treasures are covered with disrespectful taggers spray paint. Graffiti can be a valid artistic form of expression but what has covered up these and other murals in LA is just immature kids trying to claim areas of the city. 423. Hazel Lopez Murals are art! they inspire us and our children to see the beauty, and justification needed in this world of ours! They bring unity among cultures as well as hope for te future of man kind! 407. Dr. Helen Sharkey Working in the arts helps the "disenfranchised" to re-connect with society because of "direct participation" opportunities that result in new skills. This experience increases future expectations in life, resulting in personal hopes becoming potentially reachable, thus creating social gains "on the ground" that echos throughout the immediate community-of-interest. See Getty Research/ How arts participation opens up a journey towards realising self worth- If the USA does not invest in ALL ITS YOUTH and 'OTHERS' excluded from participation in society this will lead to chaos. See work of Howard Gardiner, Jane Remer, Francois Matarasso and Adams and Goldbard. A real democratic society that partially invests in only the lower income classes has to be real and inverst in those who dont fit the "accepted democratics of "middle America". Folks- Its time to think outside of the box and embrace all humans in the USA AND NOT JUST THE ONES YOU/RULING ELITE UNDERSTAND OR HAVE SOMETHING IN "COMMON WITH". 404. Jodi Finkel Our murals are part of LA's heritage, save our murals! 376. ken keegan As an artist and muralist, I know the value of art in the community and the work and dedication it takes to create a mural. Please rescue these voices of the people. It is a measure of our society to value and validate artists' work while the work is still contemporary and alive. It is easy to destroy art or not to care. In this time of corporate greed, we must take care of our positive efforts, our better angels, in order to restructure what our priorities are. These works give communities a face, a flavor, that, otherwise, might not exist or be recognized. Thank you. 197. Isabel Rojas-Williams The muralists’ quest for communication, empowerment, and education compel these artists to create ideological works for the community and to confront those observers with the social issues that affect the lives of the artists and the marginalized communities alike in richly diverse Los Angeles. It is time to understand that the murals of Los Angeles could not exist without the communities in which they sit just as we have to realize that Los Angeles would be greatly diminished without those murals. The open-air galleries of Los Angeles have bridged the generational, racial, socio-political, and financial gap among us, giving us all the opportunity to engage in the experience of artworks that transform our city walls into beautiful creations that should be preserved as our city’s artistic, cultural, and historic legacy.
To be continued . . . |
