VIDEO: KCET Documentary - Billboards Get Personal -- Featuring Dr. Allan and Frank Rahban

To learn about the story of our protest watch this compelling video featured on KCET's SoCal Connected:

To see the slogans and signs paraded around at the protest click here.
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The spineless Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s appearance on this KCET video was pathetic and clearly shows how disinterested he is in helping the signage problems in Los Angeles. Do you believe there might be a conflict of interest weighing in on his decisions?

We have a message for the mayor and the city council -- Overblown, monstrous, Supergraphic signs blight the city and are not designed to cover up buildings. Also, the digital billboards is another disgrace that can be included here.

Here’s a checklist for Mayor Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Council as you prepare to enact the new sign ordinance:

• Supergraphics’ are a blight to the entire community at large
• They disgrace and deface building designs
• They are disruptive, obnoxious intrusions to all affected individuals that have to see these 24/7
• Some of them can even pose serious fire and safety risks (as seen on this video). Our building was deemed unsafe by the fire department… and what was done to protect the tenants and all the occupants? NOTHING.
• Supergraphics’ send the wrong message to anyone visiting Los Angeles
• Supergraphics' don’t necessarily stimulate the economy; only a few folks benefit from this channel of advertising at a severe cost to our city.
• We need to revert back to traditional forms of advertising and also consider new, creative ways to pitch products without so much disruption and upset to our city
• Supergraphics' are meant to distract, and drivers already have more than enough distractions to deal with. Can't we surmise that additional distractions pose added dangers to drivers on our thoroughfares? The massive 10801 supergraphics' was positioned right up against the freeway. Now how safe can that be?
• Are your intentions to support the citizens of Los Angeles, or the donors that fill your campaign coffers?
• In summary: Advertising dollars that pad your election campaigns and in-your-face -- all-over-the-place advertising that force feed product pitches down the throats of the citizens you represent should not dictate a design for Los Angeles or for that matter, any city.

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And emails are coming in. Feel free to chime in and give us your best shot!
Hi David, I watched it on the internet. You were great!!! I so agree with you, and I support your standing up for the injustice bestowed upon you and others. Keep me posted! This guy seems like one greedy bas*****, and I loved that you went to his house to protest. The signs are obnoxious and putting them over windows is outrageous. I'll see you soon! From an anonymous patient.

Retribution: KCET Documentary On It's Way

At first the Coalition for 10801 was solely representing the tenants for the injustice brought on by the greedy actions of Frank Rahban and his partners and the other cohorts in this story -- World Wide Rush, Lois Agapay and Pepsico, Inc. We will let CBS and Dr. Phil off the hook since they quickly removed their illegal advertising from the building after it went up.

BTW -- Pepsico, Inc. is Tropicana, and they erred when they did not respond to our pleas for help and concern over their illegal advertising. Pepsico initially may have been unaware of the dangers of their advertising, but not to even respond to numerous calls and letters -- utterly shameful! And their recent supergraphics' campaign around the westside -- an insult to put it mildly. That's their corporate responsibility -- in-your-face all-over-the-place advertising.

We do give them credit for one thing -- several tenants that wrote in received some discount coupons for their next purchase of orange juice. Hmm, how come we didn't get any? We suggest you take a look at all the companies that Pepsico owns and avoid them.

Oh, getting back on track -- Our story got really ugly when only after a month of journaling the building events on this blog, the owners hand delivered a "default notice and a 30 day to cure" to Dr. Graff to inform him that he was in violation of his lease. The sequence of legal letters and comments can be reviewed by clicking here. To make a long story short, Dr. Allan was singled out. We suggest you ask Joe Agapay how many other offices have been served with a default notice of this kind? My guess is zero. Not to rehash the issue, I'm prepared to answer any questions the public may have. Just send in a qualified comment and I will answer it.

In addition to our rant, more 3rd party validation is on it's way. KCET has had a keen interest with our activities here. The show SoCal Connected brings local issues to the public and is set to air a 4th documentary on the signage problems in L.A. The heart of this story will feature how some citizens of Los Angeles are affected by this issue. From our understanding, we will play a big part in this documentary that will include the protest at Rahban's estate.

To get you up to speed, we suggest that you view previous episodes that can be found on the Internet. We have linked it for your convenience (it's already referenced in the "related links" section on the left bar):

Billboard Confidential - Part 1
Billboard Confidential - Part 2
Billboard Confidential - Part 3

We believe the show will air on Thursday, April 16th and will confirm all the details in an upcoming post.