Buck Wargo
CITY HALL -- Glendale's message to the Metropolitan Transit Authority:
flush it.
The City Council isn't willing to accept a billboard in order for
transit riders to use a bathroom in another city. It voted 5-0 Tuesday
night to adopt a resolution asking the MTA to drop its plan to put a
billboard on its property north of the Ventura (134) Freeway, west of San
Fernando Road.
The MTA has proposed allowing STI Outdoor to install 54 billboards on
its property in exchange for 10 automated self-cleaning public toilets.
None of the toilets would be in Glendale.
A week ago, MTA spokesman Gary Wosk said the agency would not install
the billboard after he was told by a News-Press reporter of opposition to
the plan in Glendale. The city has banned billboards since the 1970s.
That didn't stop Juan Levy of STI from appearing before council
members Tuesday to get them to change their mind. He said he respected
Glendale's concern about blight but urged them to think about riders.
"We are willing to work with the city," Levy said. "We urge you not to
take the NIMBY approach. When you are at a transit station and need a
bathroom, it will be the courtesy of the private sector working together
with the public sector to make it happen."
The argument didn't work with council members. Councilwoman Ginger
Bremberg criticized the agency for being lavish in its spending in the
past. She questioned why the city should allow the billboard when it
rejected one from South Brand Boulevard auto dealers a year ago.
Councilman Sheldon Baker said the MTA should budget for restrooms and
not strike a trade at the expense of the quality of life of Glendale
residents.
STI plans to install billboards in Burbank and Los Angeles near
Glendale's border.
