WOW! ANOTHER ILLEGAL SIGN GOES UP

Here's the time line of what happened this early morning at 10801.

I arrived at my office the night before 2/12 at approx. 10pm. I came back from a meeting and came back to the office to unload my gear. Earlier that day, to my disbelief, the owners put up super high intensity flood lights at the top of the building -- see previous post with the obvious fact that they were planning another HOOT for the building and prepared to have it lit for viewing during evening hours.

I sat down to write a post to this very fact and heard loud noises coming from outside the building. I took the elevator down to check out my suspicion. There she blows -- heavy equipment lined the parking lot with a HOOT rolled up at the building entrance. I heard of illegal HOOTs going up all over the city and they did this under cover of darkness late at night. I immediately called the police (now 11pm) and told them of this illegal activity and they said they will come down there to check it out.

The workmen shut down their operation for the time being and called their boss. Paul E. Fisher, esq. shows up on the workmen's behalf and we have a chat. He told me bottom line that he was in the right and he had papers to prove it. So we all waited for the police and they finally came at approx. 1am, Friday 2/13/09. They were really nice officers and we had a great discussion. I gave them the real scoop and they were all ears. They wished to remain anonymous and I will respect their wishes -- No need to pull them through the muck.

Mr. Fisher was armed with a permanent injunction to show to the police -- See Letter and Documentation From Owner. The officers told me they could not stand in the way. I said is there anything I can do... They said I can talk with their supervisor. Sure enough, another police car was summoned and once again Mr. Fisher flashed the injunction and the ruling fell in favor to allow this HOOT to go up.

So here ya go...


Workmen prepare to put CBS HOOT up.



There's that cool architecture getting covered by Dr. Phil and CBS.



There she blows!




I must admit -- these guys are good.




Finishing touches on this Picasso.




There you have it!! First we're squeezed by Pepsico and now Dr. Phil's got us on the couch.

Wow -- Live and learn. This story is unbelievable...

I started this blog with the help of many vocal tenants in disgust of what the owners did.

What they did to the tenants, to the local neighborhood, to the city of Los Angeles. See the top side bar if you are new to this story.

It's been a learning experience and a real eye opener.

I started this blog as a protest against injustice. We didn't know who to target, so we addressed the owner(s). But at that time, we didn't even know who the owners were. The blog is a great time line and if you follow it, you will see this very fuzzy story become crystal clear.

There's 4 perpetrators here that twists and turns through the story. We will start from most offensive to least:

1. Big time corporations fueling the charge and will do what ever it takes to get name recognition to the public.
2. L.A. City Gov. sending mixed messages and not having their act together in the business of regulating billboards and supergraphics. Paul E. Fisher, esq. on the scene gave me his last final comments of the evening when I asked for it: Jack Weiss, council member has been ingenuious regarding this whole bilboard debate. Now he's up for City Attorney and wants to look tough. Putting politics aside, since I've been covering this case, Jack Weiss and city officials have come to the rescue. Frankly I don't give a hoot what happened in the past -- I'm interested in what is going on now and who wants to deal with this mess.
   
3. Signage companies -- In this case, World Wide Rush. I've listed WWR third, but it's possible they are right up there with number one -- They don't seem to care about the urban landscape.
4. The building owners -- In this case it's Frank Rahban and his cohorts. They will participate in this illegal activity because the fines can't come close to the money that will come in. Sources tell us that the sign at 10801 can bring in as much as 100k a month.
   

In closing, I'm appalled at the owners actions -- They have COJONES.

Los Angeles heed this warning.

Do whatever you can legally to remove this HOOT -- or else every building owner in the city will want to participate and soon the City of Angels will become the City of a NASCAR Jumpsuit.