The Hollywood Park Casino canceled an application to increase the size of a digital billboard after many nearby residents opposed the plan.
Photo by Emilie St. John
By Emilie St. John
Contributing Writer
INGLEWOOD — Operators of the Hollywood Park Casino canceled their application requesting modification of their existing special venue freeway signs after the community rallied against it.
The City Council had scheduled a public hearing Aug. 12 to take action on the application, but that hearing was canceled at the casinos request, according to Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr.
Hollywood Park Casino was seeking to increase the height of the sign by 10 feet from 110 to 120 feet and install a new dual-sided 2,160 square-foot LED Digital Display that residents living in close proximity to the signage complained about.
Members of the public voiced their concerns at the July 22 City Council meeting and went so far as gathering petition signatures from residents living in Council District 3 adjacent to the sign at 8801 S. La Cienega Blvd., and Council District 4 adjacent to the sign located at 11305 Prairie Ave.
During that meeting, Mike Montgomery, who was representing WOW Media, also objected to Hollywood Park Casino’s application citing the $27 million generated from its digital billboard agreements with the city which placed their billboards around the city in the public right-of way.
The city’s agreement with WOW Media is under threat of litigation from companies held by both L.A. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and L.A. Rams owner Stan Kroenke, which allege the agreement violates the city’s public hearing process.
The residents who assembled for the Aug. 12 meeting shared their thoughts on Hollywood Park Casino rescinding its application.
“We are very happy to hear this proposal hearing has been removed from the agenda and we would still like to take the opportunity to submit these signatures that we gathered from around the neighborhood,” said one speaker. “We gathered 1,599 signatures plus the 1,384 that we submitted previously so for the record we are submitting 2,983.”
Dustan Battan, from Scenic Los Angeles, also spoke about what he describes as “billboard blight.” Scenic Los Angeles is part of a national group that fights the over proliferation of digital billboards in local communities.
“With today’s developments with the Hollywood Park Casino signs coming off of the agenda, we are very happy with that. … We are not going anywhere. We are going to stay vigilant on this issue because there is no benefit of these signs for the community,” Battan said.
Emilie St. John is a freelance journalist covering the areas of Carson, Compton, Inglewood and Willowbrook. Send tips to her at emiliesaintjohn@gmail.com.
