Day: October 2, 2026

Biting The Hands That Feed On You

Inglewood’s Battle of the Billboards: What Does It All Mean?

By Charles Jackson INGLEWOOD, Calif. 

— If political signs could talk, Inglewood would be arguing with itself.

Drive around town and there they are: YES on BB. NO on BB. Signs warning about billboard blight. Signs warning about billionaires. Signs supporting candidates, opposing candidates and, in one of the better ironies of election season, signs complaining about signs.

Turn on the radio, television or social media and the argument follows you home.

At some point, voters might reasonably ask a simple question: What exactly are we fighting about?

Measure BB, on Inglewood’s Nov. 3 ballot, is officially called the “Ordinance to Eliminate Advertising on Public Right-of-Way.” It would eliminate the city’s authority to permit most commercial advertising on public streets, sidewalks and certain other public property.

That sounds straightforward.

The campaign surrounding it is anything but.

Supporters of BB argue that Inglewood has become saturated with digital advertising and that public streets and sidewalks shouldn’t become an expanding commercial advertising network.

Opponents argue that those advertisements generate millions of dollars for the city and that eliminating them would punch a sizable hole in city revenue.

Both are arguments worth hearing.

But then comes the part voters should pay particular attention to: Who is paying to make those arguments?

The Yes on BB campaign is backed by interests connected to Inglewood’s major sports and entertainment venues. The opposition campaign has received substantial backing from WOW Media, the billboard company with an advertising agreement with the city. Campaign finance reporting has shown millions of dollars flowing into the competing campaigns.

So this isn’t simply Mrs. Johnson down the street complaining that a digital billboard is shining through her bedroom window.

There are some serious financial interests at the table.

And everybody, naturally, says they are protecting Inglewood.

Imagine that.

City estimates cited in news reports indicate billboard agreements have produced millions of dollars annually for Inglewood, with officials estimating Measure BB could eliminate roughly $6 million to $8 million in current annual revenue.

That’s real money.

But residents who dislike the proliferation of digital advertising have a point, too. The question isn’t merely whether advertising produces revenue. It’s also how much advertising residents want occupying public space and whether the financial benefit justifies it.

Then things get even more interesting.

Some of the stadium interests supporting restrictions on public-right-of-way advertising have advertising displays of their own on private venue property. Opponents have seized upon that distinction, arguing that BB restricts one category of advertising while leaving another largely untouched.

Now we’re getting somewhere.

The argument isn’t simply billboards versus no billboards.

It’s also about whose billboards, where they’re located, who controls them and who collects the money.

And if that weren’t enough, Measure AT adds another layer to the political stew. That measure concerns admissions-tax revenue from major Inglewood venues, including SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome. WOW Media has participated financially in the campaign surrounding that measure as well.

So the billboard company has interests in a fight involving stadium revenue, while stadium interests have interests in a fight involving billboard revenue.

Everybody got that?

Neither did I the first time around.

That’s precisely why voters should be cautious about allowing campaign slogans to substitute for reading the measures themselves.

A resident can dislike giant digital billboards without automatically accepting everything stadium interests say.

A resident can appreciate the millions of dollars those billboards bring into city coffers without automatically accepting everything the billboard industry says.

And residents can support Inglewood’s economic development while still asking whether City Hall, corporations and private developers are making arrangements that adequately benefit the people who actually live here.

Those ideas can coexist.

Unfortunately, campaign season doesn’t leave much room on a lawn sign for nuance.

Instead, voters get blight, bailout, billionaires, revenue and fair share — preferably printed in letters large enough to read while waiting for the light to change.

The messaging has become so loud that the underlying question is getting harder to hear.

So perhaps the most useful thing Inglewood voters can do between now and Nov. 3 is something considerably less exciting than planting another sign.

Read Measure BB. Read the arguments supporting it. Read the opposition. Read the financial disclosures. And whenever somebody spends a small fortune telling you which side is supposedly protecting you, take another minute and find out who’s paying them.

Because after all the billboards, commercials, mailers and yard signs disappear, Inglewood residents will still be here.

And we’re the ones who have to live with what the fine print actually says.