Plan to Get 6,000 New Bus Benches Faces Obstacles

Los Angeles bus riders would get the benefit of at least 6,000 new bus benches under a controversial plan that was being boosted Wednesday by Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson.

The plan is expected to draw protests because the city would have to allow the private company that is offering the graffiti-resistant seats to sell advertising on them.

The company, Norman Bench Advertising, would also pay the city at least $245,000 a year in fees--an increase from the $80,000 collected annually from a program that permits advertising on a bench-by-bench basis.

But advertising on bus benches is prohibited or limited in about 15 communities throughout the city. To accept the benches, the council would have to rewrite the various neighborhood development plans.

“Unless we do it this way, there will be no new benches,” Bernson said.

The idea for the bench program has been in the works at City Hall for more than a year but has been bogged down in debate over how to get around the requirements of the community development plans.

The first public hearing on Bernson’s proposal is scheduled for Tuesday before the Planning and Land Use Committee.

But it looks like there is still no quick, easy way to salvage the plan.

One of the community plans that would have to be rewritten is the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, which guides development along a 17-mile stretch of what is considered the San Fernando Valley’s Main Street. The plan prohibits new off-site advertising, or signs that are not directly attached to the business they are promoting.

The boulevard plan also calls for custom-designed amenities, such as bus benches and sidewalks in each community along the thoroughfare.

Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, is a member of a citizens panel that is working to develop a “streetscape” plan for Encino. He said he opposes Bernson’s plan to bring in bus benches emblazoned with advertising.

“The reason this is flawed is that it trashes our specific plan standards,” he said. “We will resist this.”

Development plans that either prohibit off-site advertising or require community approval exist in Westwood Village, Granada Hills, Reseda, the Wilshire District and Porter Ranch, among others.

There is already opposition brewing among the council members.

Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents parts of Ventura Boulevard, said he opposes Bernson’s bus bench proposal because it “undercuts the plans” the community groups worked hard to draft.

“We clearly need bus benches,” he said. “But I don’t know that this is the only way to get them.”

Wachs noted that the council is in the process of establishing business improvement districts throughout the boulevard to collect fees from businesses to pay for improvements, such as landscaping and bus benches.

Bill Giamela, vice president of the Canoga Park-based Norman Bench Advertising, defended the proposed program, saying the benches that will be provided “will be aesthetically very nice-looking.”

But he said it would be financially unfeasible to provide custom-made benches for each community. Instead, Giamela said the company will provide one design that would be approved by city officials for the entire city.

Francine Oschin, a Bernson aide, echoed Giamela’s concerns, saying it would be a “overwhelmingly cumbersome effort” to get citizen groups from 15 communities to agree on a bus bench design.