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Santa Clarita Posts Measure S Ballot Arguments On City Website

Arguments for and against the city of Santa Clarita’s controversial billboard measure are online, giving residents plenty of time to decide whether they want three new electronic billboards next to local freeways or let more than 40 older billboard structures stay up throughout the SCV.


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A ballot measure being presented to Santa Clarita voters in November will ask:

“Shall Ordinance No. 14-02 adopting a Development Agreement with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (METRO) for the removal of 62 advertising structures, within the City, by METRO or any other means, and construction and operation of three digital billboards, adjacent to the Interstate 5 and State Route 14 freeways, and the dedication to the City of revenue received from digital billboards, which creates an ongoing revenue stream, be adopted?”

Related: Santa Clarita To Put Metro Billboard Deal On November Ballot

Santa Clarita City Council members voted 3-1, with TimBen Boydston objecting, to put the deal to voters, after a referendum effort seeking to stop the city’s billboard deal between Metro and Allvision garnered more than 11,300 signatures.

Those in favor say Measure S will beautify the city, and add a 50-year revenue stream of up to $1 million per year to Santa Clarita coffers, in addition to other benefits.

Critics of the measure scorned the “backroom deal,” calling Measure S a symbol for the abuse and arrogance of an insulated government.”

City Councilman Bob Kellar said he took the referendum to mean voters want the measure on the ballot.

Opponents of the referendum effort, which was backed by a billboard lobbyist that funded the drive for signatures, flatly disagreed.

“Many people had different reasons for signing the referendum,” said Alan Ferdman, a Canyon Country resident and leader for an eastside advisory group, but the idea behind it was not to seek a ballot measure.

Related: County Certifies Signatures For Santa Clarita Billboard Referendum

“The whole object of the petition was to stop the deal — it wasn’t that we wanted it on the ballot, it was that people felt the whole arrangement had been done behind closed doors, without giving all interested parties the opportunity to bid,” he said.

Kellar defended the city’s process at the June meeting when the vote approving the measure took place. He said the referendum effort was responsible for putting out falsehoods about the deal, a claim made by both sides of the billboard debate in Council Chambers.

“I believe they ignored the concerns of the residents,” Ferdman said.

The cost of the election is $204,000, according to city officials.

The city of Santa Clarita put together a website with a frequently asked questions sectionabout the billboard measure.

Los Angeles County officials received more than 16,000 signatures in opposition to the city’s plan to put up three giant electronic billboards in Santa Clarita. Of those, 11,370 were deemed sufficient, which exceeded the 11,170-signature threshold.

Mayor Laurene Weste recused herself from the vote because she owns property with value that would be affected by the billboard deal.

Here is the argument in favor the measure, which was authored by Kellar.

Here is the argument against the measure, which was authored by Boydston, Rena Newhall and Patti Skinner-Sulpizio.

The city of Santa Clarita also created its own analysis of the measure in accordance with state law, which is not intended to support or oppose the ballot measure.


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Santa Clarita Posts Measure S Ballot Arguments On City Website

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.