Meghan Sahli-Wells smilingly was accepting congratulations yesterday for being the chief actor on the City Council in managing to eliminate all signage references from economic plans for a commercially bordered southerly Culver City neighborhood.
“Absolutely this was a victory” she said of her nearly year-long campaign to oust any mention of billboards or their cousins for reasons of the environment and plain old aesthetics.
How did she do it?
“I am just one person and just one vote,” Ms. Sahli-Wells demurred as congratulatory messages were showered on her. “There has been a sustained effort by members of the community the last several months to ensure that everyone on the Council was aware of their dislike of billboards.”
Before Councilman Jeff Cooper popularly suggested to his colleagues that references to signage be deleted from all plans for what has been called the Hospitality and Entertainment District, a whopping 24 persons had signed speaker cards for the agenda item.
Ms. Sahli-Wells said militant opposition to suspected/feared widespread plans for florid signage in the district “has been an ongoing conversation that finally saw a very happy conclusion Monday night.”
After Mr. Cooper’s removal suggestion quickly was embraced, “it was a huge relief,” Ms. Sahli-Wells said. “It elicited applause, and it certainly made my night.”
She offered a snapshot of her objections to the heatedly debated subject.
“Back in the day,” said the almost-native, “there were billboards all over Culver City.
“When the city started its redevelopment efforts, a sign ordinance was created that took away most billboards. A couple were shunted off along the borders of the city.
“I equate our lack of billboards with our great success as a vibrant community that really distinguishes itself within Greater Los Angeles,” the former mayor said. “Fast forward to early 2013. There started to be talk of a project for billboards.”
Ms. Sahli-Wells said it was “clear to me billboards would undermine our successes and our quality of life.
“The vast majority of residents who have communicated with me agree with me. Thankfully, that vision prevailed Monday night.
“The other problem with billboards,” Ms. Sahli-Wells said, “is that once you open that door, you are in for a whole lot of trouble. You create a likelihood of litigation and years of court battles. Los Angeles has been fighting and losing cases against major billboard companies for years. They fight to control particularly the digital billboards because so much money is involved for these companies.
“At the meeting, I was so relieved to close that door and end the threat.”