Proposed Ban on Alcohol and Tobacco Billboards Is Modified

The Compton City Council has modified a proposed ordinance that would ban alcohol and tobacco advertising on billboards in the city by allowing a two-year grace period for current advertisers.

City Clerk Charles Davis said the city is trying to be fair and wants to avoid advertisers using the 30-day period before an ordinance becomes law to renegotiate long-term contracts with billboard companies, as was the case in Baltimore, which enacted the first such ban.

New wording in the ordinance states that existing advertisements which will be prohibited by the ordinance must be removed within two years.

While several other communities, including Long Beach, Inglewood and the County of Los Angeles, have enacted or are considering milder ordinances limiting outdoor ads from within 500 to 1,500 feet of schools and churches, Compton’s measure would follow Baltimore and Chicago in actually banning tobacco and alcohol billboard advertising.