Sign Crackdown in LA Brings Jail Time & $1 Million Fine!

Ok - I brought you the Great Sign Debate... I even brought you the scandal over the re-emergence of the sign debate. Now I get the privilege of bringing you the latest news: City Attorney Carmen Trutanich arrested Kayvan Setareh, a 49-year-old businessman from Pacific Palisades, on Friday night for allegedly putting up an illegal DreamWorks supergraphic at Hollywood and Highland. A judge set the bail at a whopping $1 million for Setareh, who was still in jail as of this morning, according to ABC7, which reports that "legal experts believe Trutanich set Setareh's bail at $1 million to make an example of the businessman."

According to the LA Times, officials believe Setareh, who is said to have an ownership interest in the building, put up the supergraphic so television cameras airing this week's 82nd annual Academy Awards would pick up the image (the awards are held at the nearby Kodak Theater).

Meanwhile, more details emerged about Setareh's weekend in jail. After being arrested Friday night, Setareh spent three nights in jail, released only after the city attorney's office crafted a legal agreement that saw Setareh agree to remove the sign in return for a reduction in his bail, which was originally set at $1 million.

The cherry picker arrived at the Hollywood and Highland site by midnight, but a faulty part in the machine temporarily delayed removal of the supergraphic

Early this morning (around 1:00 AM) the removal of the supergraphic was proceeded over by a cherry picker, a crew, and three important figures. And those three men, all key players in this latest sign battle, would be: David Berger, special assistant to the City Attorney, who defended the high bail amount and dismissed speculation that by arresting Kayvan Setareh, the city was making an example of the Hollywood businessman ("It's not true we're making an example of him. He may be the first, but he’s not the last"); Andrew Stein, Setareh's attorney, who said his client just got caught up in the city's sudden sign crackdown (“My client had bad luck. He put up the sign at an inappropriate time for himself…we don’t think he did anything that was against the law”); and Al Gonzalez of Los Angeles-based sign installation company Kingsize, who refused to talk about whether he knew the How to Train Your Dragon movie sign was illegal when he put it up last week (“I can’t discuss this because we’re not involved ”), and who, on the advice of Stein, asked that no head-on photos be taken of himself or his seven-person crew as they removed the sign. Setareh, who'd been released on bail earlier in the day, wasn't around, and likely was resting at his home in Pacific Palisades. Asked to describe his client's mental state following his arrest, Stein replied, "Stunned."

Setareh will be arraigned in late March for three misdemeanors related to the installation of the sign, and if found guilty, could face a total of 18 months in jail, six months for each misdemeanor, according to Berger. Berger, who says Setareh's high bail amount was set in conjunction with the public safety threat posed by the graphic, says the crackdown on illegal signage will continue. "We are aware of other locations." With the criminal charges filed, and more apparently coming, is it "the dawn of a new day" in terms of sign regulation, as the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight's Dennis Hathaway told the Los Angeles Times today?

This was not the first time that Setareh had become a target for city inspectors. As early as 2001, they filed paperwork ordering him to remove an unpermitted supergraphic from his property on Hollywood Boulevard.

Inspectors went to the building again in January 2007 and found an unpermitted supergraphic measuring 224 feet by 40 feet stretched across the building's north, west and south walls, according to records obtained from the Department of Building and Safety.

The sign was taken down 10 days later. But another went up on the same building in March 2007, according to a timeline created by building inspectors. After the city demanded its removal, the sign went down in June 2007. It was replaced by a third supergraphic in August that stayed for a year, according to records.

Setareh also drew the attention of inspectors at a building he owns at 5858 Hollywood Boulevard. At that location, city prosecutors pressed Setareh to remove four unpermitted supergraphics between November 2006 and July 2007, according to documents.

The irony of this whole situation becomes clearly apparent if you take a look at the building directly across the street. Another illegal supergraphic on a building located directly across the street from the Hollywood and Highland building!

So, they had a cherry picker out late into the wee hours of the morning in order to remove one supergraphic - jailed a man Friday with bail set at $1 million dollars while periodically (unless they were absolutely blind) glancing at the other illegal supergraphic? Doesn't that spell irony to you, dear reader? Perhaps Mr. Setareh was only hit so hard due to the past offenses? But, even if that were so, they have now set a standard. And expecting one man to meet that standard by placing such a harsh penalty while blatantly ignoring other buildings that are in violation of that same standard, is a gross abuse of power and privilege.

Gwynn~