Moving Jumbotrons on the Boulevard

If you have not hit the streets of West Hollywood late on a weekend night, you may have never seen or noticed the newest trend in advertising--mobile video billboards. Like the heavily-regulated jumbotrons at the or across from the on West Hollywood's Sunset Strip, these billboards play video and light up the streets. The only difference is that they aren't regulated by the city and likely aren't paying their fair share in taxes.

Whether such mobile jumbotrons are legal in West Hollywood may be in dispute, but the question is: Should they be?

If stationary video billboards are considered to be a traffic hazard, a mobile video billboard is at least as distracting, if not more so.

On the other hand, the City of West Hollywood has allowed the stationary signs, and milked their owners through development agreements, so could mobile video boards become a new revenue stream for the city?

Is there a substantive difference between a U-Haul truck plastered with advertising on the side versus a truck whose only purpose is to sell ad space whilst parked in a busy entertainment district like or the Sunset Strip? Where and how would you draw the line?

As a Transportation Commissioner, I have thought about bringing the issue up for discussion—Do you think we should? Regulate them? Ban them? Tax them? Let me know what you think in the comments!