A public hearing at the West Hollywood City Council meeting on February 3 ignited debate over the proposed Legacy Loop billboard at 9200 Sunset Boulevard. Originally planned as a static, two-sided sign, the project faced criticism from both council members and local residents—but for very different reasons. City officials saw an opportunity to generate greater revenue with a digital display, while residents pushed back, citing concerns about light pollution and neighborhood disruption.
Maximizing Revenue
The council’s primary concern wasn’t the billboard itself but rather whether West Hollywood was leaving money on the table. Vice Mayor John Heilman questioned why the city would approve a static billboard when a digital sign could be much more lucrative. He pointed to other digital billboards in West Hollywood, which have generated $30-$40 million over 30 years—compared to the $7.8 million expected from this proposal. “Why are we approving it like this rather than what would be a far better deal for the city?” Heilman asked. “I think the goal, at least from my standpoint, is to maximize the city’s revenue.”
Mayor Chelsea Byers called the static sign an “egregious missed opportunity.” Councilmember Danny Hang further emphasized that the city’s billboard revenue could help fund public safety, street paving, and tree trimming. Hang also voiced concerns about the timely completion of the project. “A lot of projects, they’re granted the development agreement and then it takes years and years for construction to start,” Hang told applicant representative Jeff Seymour. “Where does the owner of this project stand with that? I mean, would there be a commitment that it wouldn’t take six years?” Ultimately, the council voted 4-1 to send the project back for revision, instructing city staff to renegotiate for a digital billboard design instead.
Neighborhood Concerns
While the council debated revenue, residents of Cory Avenue—just behind the proposed billboard—were concerned about quality of life.
“The light pollution that infects our street already is extreme,” Sam Okun, a Quarry Avenue resident, told the council. “We are a residential neighborhood… and there are children…the youngest child would be six years old. It’s a bit of a nightmare for us, and I just want to speak out as a family member and as a resident of that street: It would mean more light pollution and more of everything we don’t welcome in a neighborhood.”
Another resident, Louise Krakower, questioned the need for the billboard at all. “What does West Hollywood get from this?” she asked. “There are better ways for the city to earn money than this truly unattractive sign.”
In response, Jeff Seymour insisted there would be no light trespass onto Cory Avenue. “The neighbors that we’ve been hearing from are on Cory,” Seymour said, “and there is no lighting impact from this sign on Cory.”
The council, however, remained cautious and requested additional studies to assess the effects of a digital billboard.
What’s Next?
The project will now be redesigned and reevaluated, with city staff conducting new lighting studies. The process could take up to six months before it returns to the council for approval.
While West Hollywood looks for ways to increase its revenue, residents remain wary of the impact that the ever-growing number of billboards on the Sunset Strip will have on their daily lives. The council now faces the challenge of balancing economic benefits with community concerns—a debate that will likely resurface when the project returns for final approval.
All you have to do is look at what the city has evolved into over the last 30 years and it’s clear that the city Council has never been concerned about what the residents want. They’re only concern is money, and more and more of it.
This is a classic example of why Sunset Boulevard and properties along it matter to the council only if they can generate income. The homes affected by this billboard are in the City of Beverly Hills, not in West Hollywood.
Look at the city boundary and Sunset Boulevard in terms of residential areas (who vote for council members), versus those living in Los Angeles or Beverly Hills where they don’t vote for council members. We have tall buildings along Sunset in West Hollywood because nobody up the hill lives in West Hollywood, they live in Los Angeles.
Clark St. and Larrabee are both densely populated streets, and they are both in West Hollywood above Sunset Blvd. They don’t become Los Angeles until they reach Ozeta Terrace. But you are correct in your point that they are often ignored by our city and by our city council when it comes to making decisions regarding generating revenue. Councilmember Meister is the exception to that. She always takes these streets and the residents living on them into consideration.
Billboard revenue also pays for more bureaucrats. The city wants to hire three full-time people to, it would appear, primarily watch over 35 completed or proposed billboard projects on Sunset Blvd. https://weho.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=16&event_id=1596&meta_id=290373 So figure each new employee would be watching over about 12 billboard projects. Suppose each of the highly paid new hires works roughly 2,000 hours a year–equivalent to about 160 hours for each of those 12 billboard projects. That’s the equivalent of the employee standing in front of each billboard for one month. (I recall the city was paying a retired city employee a big paycheck as a… Read more »
And those hirees will be either relatives or a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend.(someone who will make a campaign contribution.)
Who was the 1 in the 4-1?
Meister.
Do it.. Sunset it’s know for their billboards. Make a cool one. We need more revenue from the city since every restaurant/business are closing down, soon the billboards will be the only thing paying the bills.
I am tired of this council’s blatant bias towards developers over the residents. How many more distractions does an individual need to keep their eyes on the road? Oh wait, bike lanes will solve these issues.
The city council does not give a rat’s ass about residents’ quality of life. THEY. DON’T. CARE.
YES. THEY. DO.
LOL. Aren’t you one of Erickson’s appointees?
Lol 😅
You sure about that?
Any councilmember who suggests that the City of West Hollywood needs to increase its revenue to fund public safety, street paving, and tree trimming by polluting neighborhoods with more light is completely tone deaf to a) the needs of the residents’ quality of life, and b) the amount of wasteful spending on vanity projects and abusive travel on the public dime. We already have money for public safety, street paving, and tree trimming, it’s just been squandered on bullpucky that has nothing to do with the nuts and bolts of sound municipal governance.
Exactly! He really thinks billboards pay for basic public works. He should know better, he’s a social worker for crying out loud.