Human signs may be banned

More costume-wearing, billboard-toting, giant arrow-waving human advertisements have been competing for the attention of Costa Mesa motorists lately, especially since the economic downturn, according to city planners.

Men toting body-sized cardboard signs stand on Harbor Boulevard trying to draw customers into the languishing South Coast Home Furnishings Centre.

A pawn shop on Newport Boulevard attempts to pull in beach-going traffic with a dancing advertisement. Condo developments off of Adams Avenue hire people to wear arrows pointing to the rental offices.

For some in city, it has become too much.

Three of Costa Mesa’s five neighboring cities — Irvine, Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach — have outlawed sign spinners, and Costa Mesa is looking to follow suit. Its Planning Commission expects to discuss the subject in July.

The signs are unsightly, they distract drivers and they block public sidewalks, said Principal Planner Willa Bouwens-Killeen.

A staff report accompanying the proposal says, “Although staff is sympathetic for the need of some business owners to have greater advertising available to them, we feel the prohibition is needed to balance the need for advertising … with the attractiveness of the city.”

Rob Kee owns a Huntington Beach business specializing in all types of human signs called Enlarge Media Group.

His website, signevent.com, sports all manner of flashing, moving parts designed to catch the eye in the same way as the sign spinners he employs.

Kee frequently sends human billboards to Costa Mesa street corners — he has one scheduled to advertise an apartment complex in town this weekend.

“I honestly believe a ban is [a violation of the 1st Amendment]. I think everyone should have the right to advertise. Cutting out things like this is just deterring people from advertising in a more affordable way and pushing them toward more expensive things” like television, radio and print advertisements, he said.

Constitutional considerations come into play whenever a city starts trying to make distinctions governing what types of businesses can and cannot have human signs, but the Constitution allows for banning commercial human signs outright, Costa Mesa City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow said.

Kee suspects that South Coast Home Furnishing Centre — a massive plaza full of furniture vendors — decided to set up shop on the Costa Mesa side of the Fountain Valley border at least in part because of Fountain Valley’s more restrictive advertising regulations.

The complex is one of the most prolific users of signage in the entire city with frequent sign spinners, numerous placards stuck in the surrounding lawns and banners everywhere. Despite the efforts, business has been rough and the center was recently sold for a fraction of its initial offering price.

Huntington Beach’s City Council considered repealing its ban in February — the Planning Commission recommended it as a way for businesses to sell things during the recession despite objections from city staff — but on a 5-2 vote the council decided to uphold the law.

“I felt that [the signs] were visual blight,” Councilwoman Jill Hardy said. “We’ve really worked hard on improving our stationary signs in town and I just felt that this was going in the wrong direction.”

Fountain Valley has not allowed commercial human advertisements for more than 15 years, but it does allow people to hold political signs as long as they’re not blocking sidewalks. Planning Director Andy Perea said that the ordinance had not run into any legal challenges or objections from the business community.

“It has not been a big problem here in Fountain Valley,” Perea said, adding that he had not heard any complaints from businesses.

Although he has not decided whether he would support a ban on signage, Planning Commission Chairman Jim Righeimer thinks that it is disingenuous to say that sign spinners generate business: They simply allow one company to draw business away from another.

“Everyone will always say more signage, more signage, more signage. They’re just trading dollars,” Righeimer said.

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.