City Council Approves New Bus Bench Contract

The city agreed to sign a new contract Friday with a Florida-based company to manage thousands of bus benches and trashcans at Los Angeles bus stops.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a contract with Martin Outdoor Media that would require the company to pay $2.6 million in advertising revenue over a 10-year period. The city will own the benches under the new contract.

The previous vendor, Canoga Park-based Norman Bench Advertising, began removing benches earlier this month after it was not awarded a new contract. City officials said that Norman did not disclose how many benches it placed in the city or advertising revenue it received from them.

Councilman Mitchell Englander was the only council member who rejected the contract with Martin. He voted against approving the contract on Friday. A motion he presented to ask that the two companies work together and coordinate bus bench removal and installation was referred to a City Council committee.

Englander said he rejected the contract in part because of a $465,000 agreement to pay Martin to expedite bus bench installation with no clear transition plan to move from one vendor to another.

Two local neighborhood councils both submitted community impact statements to the City Council this week, voicing their opinions on provisions in the contract. 

Neighborhood Council Valley Village asked that the contract prohibit placing benches with advertisements in areas where there are community provided non-advertising benches. They also asked the City Council prohibit advertising on trashcans.

The Studio City Neighborhood Council opposed the contract, citing several community problems: advertising on trashcans, no provisions on the removal of current bus benches and a lack of communication between the city and community organizations on the contract.

“I don’t think you should vote on this today,” SCNC Treasurer Lisa Sarkin told the City Council Friday.

“Where any community benches are located, those should not be hampered by the advertising benches,” Sarkin said.

The new contract will prohibit ads that promote tobacco, alcohol and firearms or contain sexually explicit images.

Councilman Dennis Zine and Englander both criticized the Board of Public Works for its oversight of the bus bench program. Andrea Alarcón, president of the board, told the City Council that the board doesn’t know how much money Norman owes the city because it doesn’t have copies of their financial records.

Englander said he heard city officials say in numerous meetings that Norman would not have to pay the debt. 

“Clearly the city has failed to do its accounting and billing,” said Englander.

Martin Outdoor Media will relocate its headquarters to Los Angeles and hire local administrative staff as part of the new contract.