Campaigning to win his first full two-year term, state Sen. Curren D. Price Jr. (D-Culver City) may have struck approximate gold with the digital license plate bill he introduced.
Chatter about digital plates have reaped Mr. Price volleys of attention and just a sliver of criticism in the last couple of months as the catchy bill wends through the lengthy legislative process in Sacramento.
He sees the plates as a gadget that can open a new revenue stream for a financially starved state.
Not that the solid favorite over Republican contender Rabbi Nachum Shifren needed any artificial help.
But who knows in this unpredictable electoral environment when even state-level politicians are feeling pinched by anti-incumbent fever.
Mr. Price was elected last year to complete the final 17½ months of the term originally won by County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Looking Like a Fit
Tall, ramrod straight and savvy, he flowed into Mr. Ridley-Thomas’s old chair as if he had been in training for it. Especially since the first of the year, Mr. Price, based in Inglewood, has been a constant presence in Culver City neighborhoods.
The other evening, he hosted a meet-and-greet at the Culver Hotel, the hub of Downtown. With Election Day just 83 days away, he was in campaign form.
The digital plate gradually has become a talked-about attraction. Just enough is known to make it intriguing, but not nearly enough to fill out the imagery.
Crisscrossing rumors have suggested that the digital plate, you will forgive the modest pun, can be a vehicle for an advertisement, for a photo or for a catchy jingle.
Which will it be?
Not one to be cornered, the senator said “digital license plates will provide an opportunity.
“Vanity plates are nothing new,” Mr. Price said. “They have been around for ages. This form just utilizes technology, and that has made some people uncomfortable.
“This idea will allow Californians to transmit any message they want to — like ‘Save the Whales’ or saying something about your school — as long as it has been approved, just like the vanity plates.
“The ‘Save the Whales’ vanity plate has approximately 125,000 subscribers, and they generate $3.8 million for the Coastal Commission. There are five or six vanity plates like that, for the veterans, for the environment.
“With the digital plate, the message or whatever shows up when the car is running, but when it comes to a stop, the regular license appears.”
And then there is this helpful quirk in the senator’s handy bill:
“While the plate numbers always will be visible in a corner, I am told that technology is such that when a police car approaches the vehicle, the plate flashes back to a full screen for the numbers.
“There might be increased economies with registration, change of address.
“I am not sure,” Mr. Price said, “of the exact cost. That is up to the studies, but I imagine around forty, fifty, sixty bucks.”
And then the senator moved along to greet potential voters who can make a difference for him on Nov. 2.
