San Diego Union-Tribune

8/2/03

Lawsuit targets billboard limits

Chula Vista, El Cajon, Lemon Grove named

By Asher Price

An Atlanta lawyer known for his First Amendment challenges on behalf of billboard companies has targeted the sign ordinances of at least three cities in San Diego County.

This week, Edward Adam Webb ­ who claims as his legacy more than 100 new billboards across the nation ­ filed suit in San Diego federal court Monday against the cities of Lemon Grove, El Cajon and Chula Vista.

The suits have city attorneys around the county wading through their sign ordinances in an effort to fish out weak or poorly worded regulations.

According to the complaint filed against Lemon Grove, Get Outdoors, a Nevada-based billboard company, applied in June 2002 to place eight signs in the city. City officials refused to grant the signs.

"The Sign Ordinance blatantly and expressly favors the messages of some businesses and organizations over the messages of others," according to the suit.

The suit claims, for instance, that signs belonging to charitable, nonprofit and service organizations are favored over other noncommercial messages, and that drive-through restaurants are permitted additional signage.

The complaint seeks to overturn the ordinance, erect the requested signs and recoup monetary damages.

Lawsuits against El Cajon and Chula Vista are similar.

"I don't see any reason signs are any less useful free speech outlets than other media," Webb said in a phone interview. "In fact they are more useful, because they are more accessible to the common man."