What was Truth in Advertising?

I just got an email from the TIA and I have to be honest, I wasnt aware of thier work. This adds to the list of early billboard alteration teams like the Billboard Liberation Front, B.U.G.A.U.P, Ron English (whose work has gone off the deep end by wrapping around and eating it's own tail), and The CDC. Take a look and brush up on history.

You are invited to visit an exhibit of some of the finest billboard alterations you have ever seen. Here's one:

These billboards appeared on the streets of Santa Cruz, California, from 1980 to 1985. The billboards were made over by a clandestine network of midnight billboard editors operating under the name of Truth In Advertising, or TIA for short.

This exhibit of their historic work was first presented in 2007 at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. Now for the first time the exhibit is available on the web. It's made up of 12 billboards presented in the order in which they appeared on the streets of Santa Cruz. The sequence also tells the story of Truth in Advertising, and documents publicity and commentary. More [HERE]

Iselin for Public Access Project - San Diego

I've been working on an augmented reality project out in San Diego over the past few months. While traveling I always like to make sure I figure out how to break into bus shelters for the Public Access Project (sorry this link will remain broken for a few more weeks). This post is another installation of the Iselin image, proving access was established in SD, and that keys will be made available shortly through a dedicated website that I am looking forward to finally launching in the New Year.

PUBLIC ACCESS - key archive and tool production

PublicAccess - Perth, Western Australia

A few years ago I was in Norway for NuArt. The festival brought me to Stavanger to cause a scene in downtown by removing every bus shelter advertisement and replacing it with artwork illegally. For a state sponsored arts festival that puts a huge part of its budgets behind large scale mural productions in a small oil rich town, I was happily surprised by my invitation and how progressive they showed themselves to be with that choice. There was one problem, I had no idea how to break into the ad infrastructure in Norway. Luckily for me volunteers were able to send me photos, take measurements, and generally help me figure out what I needed to make before I got on a plane.

I left for Norway equipped with a new tool I assumed would give me access to every shelter I would need access to, in order to blanket downtown. Upon arrival in Stavanger it became immediately clear that what we thought was the key, was in fact an aberration. I now know that many cities have several different keys that open infrastructure installed at different times. New models of bus shelters can have wildly different opening methods and Stavanger was no different. The more ubiquitous tool, and the one that would allow me to blanket downtown, was not in my possession and I had to figure it out fast.

After gathering some random hardware supplies, I was able to hand craft a tool that provided me access to the rest of Stavanger's infrastructure. I became excited by my resourcefulness and ease with which these keys could be made, even on the fly. Traveling over the next few months, I began to notice that this new key I had crafted in Stavanger was in fact quite universal, giving me access to advertising infrastructure all over Europe. In fact, with outdoor advertising run by a few large multinational corporations, a key that worked in Hong Kong, might also work in Tel Aviv and the idea for PublicAccess was born.

For the past two years I have been using my travels as an opportunity to build an archive of keys that open advertising infrastructure all around the world. The photos below are a selection of cities which I have gained access to, the list growing as I move around or work with artists from cities I have never been. The idea at this point is to make this archive available to anyone who wants it. I have in fact been giving these keys away slowly to personal requests. Over the next few months I will be creating a dedicated website for this project. The website will include a world map with accessible locations, a way to purchase the keys for a small donation, as well as 3d printable files and instructions. My hope is to make advertising takeover work easier for those who might want to get involved but don't know where to begin. As the keys are used and documentation of thier use is gathered in one place, I see this projects final stage being the exhibition of photographic documentation of work made using the archive that I have created. More info to follow as the website is finalized and this project goes fully live.

  PublicAccess - Brussels, Belgium

  PublicAccess - Hong Kong, China

  PublicAccess - Los Angeles, California

  PublicAccess - San Francisco, California

  PublicAccess - New York, New York

 PublicAccess - Shanghai, China 

 PublicAccess - Washington, DC

 PublicAccess - Saint Louis, Missouri

 PublicAccess - Oakland, California

Pain Isn't Always Obvious - CDC Action

The CDC is at it again rehabilitating California's outdoor advertising. You can see more of their past corrections at the CDC website, [HERE]

Liberated Ads Confront San Francisco Eviction Crisis

VIA: The CDC

On February 11, 2014, the CDC successfully apprehended, rehabilitated and discharged bus shelter advertisements throughout San Francisco. The ads were released into city districts with historically high rates of tenant displacement, including the Fillmore, the Mission and South of Market. One corrected ad sits at Valencia and 24th Street in the Mission District, a neighborhood with the city's leading eviction rate from 2009 to 2013. More [HERE]

Corrected Billboard Supports U.S. Military at Guantanamo Bay

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2013 - San Francisco, California

Corrected Billboard Supports U.S. Military at Guantanamo Bay

The California Department of Corrections (CDC) has unveiled a new billboard campaign to support U.S. military personnel serving at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
On April 22, 2013

the CDC successfully apprehended and rehabilitated a San Francisco billboard between Potrero Avenue and U.S. Highway 101, near 19th Street. The CDC released the corrected ad to support our colleagues in the U.S. military who have recently come under scrutiny for their practices at Guantanamo Bay. The CDC’s red and white billboard asks in larger-than-life type, CAN YOU NAME 5 TYPES OF TORTURE? Fine-print text responds, WE CAN…GREETINGS FROM GUANTANAMO BAY.

The liberated ad can be seen on the CDC website at www.CorrectionsDepartment.org.

As a private correctional institution, the CDC recognizes the challenges faced by U.S. military personnel in the efficient maintenance and administration of prison facilities under disruptive conditions. More than half of Guantanamo detainees are currently on hunger strike to protest their open-ended detention without trial or charges. Initiated on February 6, 2013, the protest was sparked by a search of Korans and other inmate belongings, which were mishandled, according to detainees. The rapidly escalating strike now involves 84 of 166 detainees. Six detainees have been hospitalized while 16 others are being force-fed with tubes threaded through their noses and into their stomachs.

With limited medical personnel on duty at Guantanamo, the U.S. military is rushing dozens of supplemental staff to the detention facility. The CDC commends the sacrifices made by these doctors, nurses and medics in response to the crisis at the U.S. Naval Base. Force-feeding creates stressful conditions for overtaxed medical personnel who are now obligated to perform additional responsibilities, reducing time for their previous duties, such as coerced, unnecessary operations and the disclosure of confidential medical records with interrogators.

Force-feeding also creates dangerous working conditions for military police officers in the Immediate Reaction Force, who must subdue and restrain a detainee prior to his meal. Such burdens exacerbate potential threats to officer safety, which include the risk of ankle sprains incurred while jumping on detainees, repetitive stress injuries from throwing bound inmates into walls or respiratory complications from pepper spray and caustic agents doused over shackled inmates.

Upon taking office in 2009, President Obama declared his intention to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Despite a limited number of detainee transfers out of the prison, no action has been taken to shut the facility, leaving camp personnel with the prospect of supervising uncooperative detainees indefinitely.

The corrected billboard is currently at liberty and seems to have successfully readjusted to public life. However, this ad will remain under surveillance by department staff to prevent recidivism and any potential lapse into prior criminal behavior.

Founded in 1994, the CDC is a private correctional facility that protects the public through the secure management, discipline and rehabilitation of California's advertising. The department was initiated by individuals who felt that public correctional facilities were insufficiently managing the state's most criminal elements and that effective care and treatment would improve under the supervision of a private institution.

For more information on the department’s operations and programs, contact the CDC Office of Communications at cdc@revolutionist.com.

Where is Due Process - CDC Action

VIA: The CDC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 14, 2012 - San Francisco, California

Liberated Billboards Salute U.S. Drones

The California Department of Corrections (CDC) has unveiled a new billboard campaign to welcome unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, into the U.S. airspace system.

On December 13, 2012 the CDC successfully apprehended and rehabilitated billboards across San Francisco, including the intersection of Folsom and 12th Street. The CDC released the corrected ads to support our colleagues in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who have been mandated by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act to integrate drones into American airspace by 2015.

As a public-private partnership between the CDC and the Department of Homeland Security, the billboards feature a Predator drone patrolling the skies above a pastel-tinted suburban neighborhood. A missile streaks from the drone and bears down on adjacent text, which asks the question: WHERE IS DUE PROCESS?

The liberated ads can be seen on the CDC website at www.CorrectionsDepartment.org.

As a private correctional institution, the CDC urges the rapid adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles by domestic law enforcement, which will introduce all Americans to the safety, discipline and security found in California’s penal facilities. Recognizing the benefits of increased efficiency found in private industry, the CDC applauds the use of drones to streamline and improve government operations. Unmanned aerial vehicles relieve federal courts of time-consuming litigation and simplify legal procedures under the executive branch, as demonstrated by the successful executions of U.S. citizens Anwar Al-Aulaqi, Samir Khan, and 16-year-old Abdulrahman Al-Aulaqi in Yemen last year.

The corrected billboards are currently at liberty and seem to have successfully readjusted to public life. However, these ads will remain under surveillance by department staff to prevent recidivism and any potential lapse into prior criminal behavior.

Founded in 1994, the CDC is a private correctional facility that protects the public through the secure management, discipline and rehabilitation of California's advertising. The department was initiated by individuals who felt that public correctional facilities were insufficiently managing the state's most criminal elements and that effective care and treatment would improve under the supervision of a private institution.

For more information on the department’s operations and programs, contact the CDC Office of Communications at cdc@revolutionist.com.

Will L.A.’s Digital Billboards Be Going Dark? And If So, When?

The hits just keep on coming. It does not matter if the company is a small time wildposting OOH like NPA outdoor, or a mega giant like CBS, the quest is for profit without consideration. Something about the practice of selling public space to the highest bidder for commercial products we all don't need, makes you act above the law. I do not understand why our cities allow OOH companies to outright bully them despite having clear set laws imposed by citizens. The fact that we spend so much to defend ourselves from these agressive business maneuvers, instead of filling our schools with more teachers, boggles my mind. The business as a whole has proven its inability to get along with our cities and our rules and should be outright banned from operating at all. We would all be better off for it. 

VIA Ban Billboard Blight

Yesterday’s California Appeals Court decision ordering the revocation of permits issued for 100 digital billboards in Los Angeles was ample cause for celebration by those who have been saying since 2006 that the backroom deal struck with Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor to allow more than 800 of the brightly-lit signs with their rapidly changing messages was illegal because it violated the city’s own ordinances. More [HERE]

Banksy-DASK and Taking Out Billboards One By One

Seems like there are a lot of billboard takeovers happening these days which i couldn't be more excited about. While the most widely noticed is probably the newest BANKSY hit. While I am excited to see the artist returning to sow of his earlier tactics, the video from TMZ showing people fighting over his work is just a shame.

DASK billboard VIA Endless Canvass

BANKSY billboard VIA Wooster Collective

Shrooms Graffiti in the Bay Area

Image VIA Endless Canvas

People have different opinions on Graffiti in public space. Arguments against it often focus on the blighting aspects, its lack of aesthetics, and its relation to crime or gang activity. I understand the concerns regarding scrawl that is haphazardly placed by heavy bombing and a lack of attention to other peoples experience of their public environment, but unlike most people I see this problem as a symptom of a need, rather than an interest in wanton destruction. The need I speak of is the public's obvious desire to use public space as both a canvas for artwork as well as a venue for public communication. There is a basic need to visually interact with the spaces you live in, evidenced by a history of artistic public practices that includes graffiti. When those actions are criminalized and spaces are overrun by private communications, a competition arises between public and private forces. This Shroom piece is evidence of this battle and I am always excited to see graffiti taking on these politics instead of simply bombing every street corner.

Deuce Seven Clear Channel Takeover in San Francisco

VIA Streetsy

It doesn't seem like people know when Deuce Seven created this advertising takeover in San Francisco but I could really care less. It's amazing, and his use of the frame is absolutely incredible. It appears this was all done on site which is even more fantastic. We know how dodgy it can be spending anymore time than necessary at an ad takeover location whether it's illegal or not, and for this reason we are blown away by this piece. One can only assume Deuce is a fast painter and a world class sprinter.

All are welcome to express themselves in the box below

This is an interesting way for private landlords and shop owners to allow, and at the same time control, graffiti and public use of our shared public walls. Not only does a gesture like this garner respect from local artists for the wall they are painting and thus the individual behind it, but it creates an environment where public use of public space is acceptable despite local laws prohibiting this kind of activity.

VIA Boing Boing

Gama-Go's Greg Long just snapped this photo of a roll-up door in San Francisco. Click the image to see it larger. Here's what's written on the door above and below the graffiti:

"All are welcome to express themselves in the box below."

"Painting within the above box is hereby expressly permitted and shall not be considered "graffiti" in accordance with article #23 of the San Francisco Municipal Code."

Billboard Confidential-KCET LA

VIA illegalsigns.ca

I found this series done by KCET LA on outdoor advertising in Los Angeles on Rami Tabello's illegalsigns.ca. This quote from part 3 of the series embodies the distrust which develops when a city fails to take care of its residents before it takes care of the outdoor advertising industry and huge profits. "It doesn't really seem like anybody cares and I don't really believe the city is capable of doing anything about it." With critical legal as well as safety issues being ignored by the outdoor advertising industry in LA and the lack of public support for outdoor advertising, it is amazing the city has not been more cavalier with the problem.

Part 3


Part 1


Part 2

Los Angeles Steps Up Fight on Large Ads

Yes landlords disregard the law, bringing us unwanted advertising content with little concern for the wants of the rest of us. Yes by doing so they prevent other more constructive visual happenings around our shared landscape. But can we really bemoan their behavior when..."A violation of the billboard ordinance carries a maximum monthly fine of $2,500. But Mr. Weiss said the signs could bring in $100,000 in rent for building owners." If we as a concerned citizens do not demand from our government proper enforcement of our collective wishes, we cannot expect compliance from those poised to make unheard of profits.

VIA The New York Times

By REBECCA CATHCART

Published: February 1, 2009

LOS ANGELES — This city has opened a new front in its longstanding battle with billboard companies, ordering building owners to remove so-called supergraphic signs, enormous advertisements draped across multistory structures, after deeming them fire hazards.

Los Angeles city officials said the signs, made mostly of vinyl, had proliferated since December, when the City Council passed a temporary ban on billboards and large signs. The stopgap move was an effort to give the city more time to close loopholes in a 2002 law intended to curtail billboard advertisements.

Jack Weiss, a city councilman who wrote the temporary ordinance, said the original legislation was supposed to put a stop to the supergraphic signs. “Instead,” Mr. Weiss said, “the supergraphic companies have plastered their signs up all over the city and are thumbing their noses at the law.”

“Many of these signs are dangerous,” he added. “They prevent people from getting out in case of fire, or firefighters from getting in.”

The Fire Department estimates that more than 100 buildings from downtown to the coast have illegal signs.

Inspectors have ordered 20 building owners to remove large signs, Mr. Weiss said, and will continue to issue warnings.

A violation of the billboard ordinance carries a maximum monthly fine of $2,500. But Mr. Weiss said the signs could bring in $100,000 in rent for building owners.

The city has been blocked from enforcing the 2002 law because of legal entanglements, including lawsuits by billboard companies over free-speech rights. In 2006 and 2007, the city settled lawsuits with three of the largest billboard companies — CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor and Regency — allowing them to convert as many as 850 print billboards to electronic ones.

Even so, the supergraphic signs seem to be gaining in popularity.

People in neighborhoods across the city have reported seeing work crews unfurling the banners at night and on weekends. Barbara Broide, who lives in the West Los Angeles district, said she and her neighbors had photographed workers in cranes mounting the signs with thick plastic cables before leaving in trucks piled high with more folded signs.

Ms. Broide, 55, said many neighborhood groups were frustrated by the lack of billboard regulation.

“These companies are not only not complying, but doing things dangerous to building occupants and firefighters,” Ms. Broide said. “And yet these signs seem to persist.”

BREAKING NEWS: CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED AGAINST OWNER OF 10801

If we are gonna talk about safety issues stemming from outdoor advertising, I think we should all read this. Property owners consistently disregard the safety of their tenants as well as the laws which are imposed on them by city governments. Often this is simply an economic issue, profits being far higher than the fines which are given for violations.

VIA 10801takesigndown

FRESH OFF THE PRESS:

We were just notified by Mary Clare Molidor, Sr. Asst. District Attorney, that a 23 count criminal complaint has been filed by the Criminal Branch of the City Attorney's Office today against Frank Rahban, owner of 10801 National Blvd, L.A. CA 90064 and others for defying an order by the Fire Department to remove this hazardous sign.

Frank Rahban put this illegal monstrous vinyl tarp (Called a Supergraphic) late Tuesday evening on Jan. 13, 2009 over the entire side of his 6 story office building, covering the windows and creating a serious fire hazard.

He was cited by the fire department for 2 serious fire code violations on Jan. 22, 2009 (see fire code violations handed down) and was given until Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009 to have it removed. Today is Friday, Jan. 30th and it still remains affixed to the building.

Even with the knowledge of this illegal Supergraphic being a threat and a serious danger for all of the building occupants, Frank Rahban has elected to keep it up because of the revenues this sign is bringing in. He's aware that the fines are peanuts compared to what he will make on the sign, even if it's disregarding the lives of hundreds of tenants.

If the fines don't matter, then how about some global public shame.

SHAME ON YOU FRANK RAHBAN AND SHAME ON YOUR COHORTS:

Joe Agapay, Esq (council in the building representing Frank)
Lois Forshee-Agapay (building manager)
Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico, Inc and their division Tropicana (Ad)
Barry Rush of World Wide Rush (Signage - trashing the landscape)

CLICK HERE TO GET FRANK RAHBAN'S CONTACT INFORMATION AND CALL, WRITE OR STOP BY HIS OFFICE.

Tell him that you can't put a price on a human life.

Another Yiddish word comes to mind to describe this kind of person:
Frank you're a GONIFFNoun - A thief or dishonest person or scoundrel (often used as a general term of abuse) ganef, ganof, gonif. Offender, wrongdoer - a person who transgresses moral or civil law.

Council member Jack Weiss and the LAFD held a press conference right outside the 10801 property just last Wed., Jan. 28, 2009 to attack the issue of these illegal signs and specifically mentioned that anyone not cooperating will have charges filed against them.

We want to thank the city attorney's office for keeping their word and taking action, thank the LAFD for all of their support, thank the media for a great job covering this issue and this particular story, and most of all thank the tenants of 10801.

Billboard Blight: A Gallery Of Shame

People have been commenting that removing outdoor advertising from the public environment would result in a huge loss of jobs for the city, something we can't afford right now. In the short term this is true, but reading a post on Ban Billboard Blight reminded me that a healthy city is far more important than a few short term jobs. In response to the potential job loss, BBB writes.

"Perhaps the question to ask these companies is what they do to harm the visual landscape of the city, and how this makes it a less desirable place to live and do business, and what that means for jobs and the economy"

VIA Ban Billboard Blight

At last week’s City Planning Commission hearing on proposed revisions to the city’s sign ordinance, representatives and lobbyists representing behemoth corporations like Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor argued that stricter regulations
on outdoor signage would harm the city’s economy and result in the loss of jobs, although they offered no facts or figures to support these assertions. Perhaps the question to ask these companies is what they do to harm the visual landscape of the city, and how this makes it a less desirable place to live and do business, and what that means for jobs and the economy.The billboards in the photos belong to Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor, and Lamar Outdoor (formerly Vista Media). Want to let them know what you think? Send an e-mail to the following:

• Layne Lawson laynelawson@clearchannel.com
• Ryan Brooks ryan.brooks@cbsoutdoor.com
• Theresa Doran tdoran@lamar.com

"The Dog Dies": Movie Spoiler Graffiti Hits Los Angeles

Having not seen this movie, which by the way is exploding box offices, I didn't realize the graffiti that has been showing up in Los Angeles is actually a movie spoiler. Given this, the messages are extremely disarming to the power the ad has to attract viewers. The ad may not itself be gone but the experience it is advertising is rendered useless through the added message by revealing the ending.

This is an interesting distinction for me that I have never considered, being adamant about total ad removal except in the most specific cases. If this graffiti were placed over an ad for Coca Cola, the product would suffer very little. Since Coca Cola's objective is brand recognition first and foremost and not the actual product, the fact that the brand is not obscured would mean the ad remains potent. In advertising for movies and other products or services which rely on the actual product to promote itself, total obstruction of the ad is not necessary. A detournement, or witty alteration may suffice to destroy the ad as well as point to the moment of interaction and communication taking place between viewer and individual.

This is not to say that any scrawl over an advertisement of this type will take the air out of the ad and turn the campaign on itself. The content of the alteration must speak to the product and displace whatever authority it might hold. This acknowledgment opens up a method of taking back public space from advertising content I have been very slow to recognize but have come to respect through this piece.

With that said, the objective of Public Ad Campaign is not to debunk advertising content, but rather to question its authority in the public environment and what adverse effects we are under because of it. Removal of the ad for individually created content is more to that point and speaks to an environment where the public creates content instead of reacting to it.

From Wooster Collective


Photos nicked from here.

Merry Christmas New York

In the spirit of giving I went out yesterday and removed approximately 50 different ads from the streets, mostly Van Wagner Phone Kiosks. It's not much, but on the heals of LA getting three new illegal billboards for Christmas, I thought it would be a nice counter gesture.

What Ban? What Moratorium? New Billboards Go Up Alongside Downtown Freeway

Just another case of outdoor advertising companies doing what they want in our public space. If they can so blatantly disregard the law I don't see why I can't do the same thing. the next post will be a response.

As an early Christmas present to the city, a Los Angeles company has put up three full-sized, double-sided billboards alongside the 110 freeway downtown.



Coming on the heels of the city council passage of a three-month moratorium on approvals of new billboards, the structures looming some sixty feet high were not permitted or inspected by the Department of Building and Safety, and were apparently erected over a single weekend.

The billboards bear no company name, but are identical to a billboard put up the same area last year by L.A. Outdoor Advertising, also without any required permits or inspections. That billboard was ordered removed, and at an appeal hearing, Andrew Adelman, head of Building and Safety, said it was the most blatant case of disregarding city codes he had seen in his years with the department.

Billboard Illegally Erected Alongside 110 Freeway Last Year

The company subsequently filed a lawsuit against the city, challenging the constitutionality of its ban on new billboards. Keith Stephens, president of the company, was interviewed on KCET’s recent “Billboard Confidential” and claimed that the city was unfairly discriminating against his company because it had allowed larger companies to put up new billboards and supergraphic signs in special Sign Supplemental Use Districts and as part of community redevelopment agreements.

The multi-ton billboard structures would normally require the submission of structural drawings and calculations, and the foundations for the supporting columns would be inspected for proper depth and steel reinforcement before any concrete was placed. One of the billboards, at 11th and Blaine Streets, appears to be no more than 20 feet from the edge of the freeway.

One of the billboards, at the site of the Plumbers Union Local 78 on James Woods Blvd., is displaying advertising, but the other two have not yet been put into service.

New Freeway Billboard Structure

New Freeway Billboard Awaiting Ad

Posted under Billboards, Freeway Billboards

Underfunding Causes Concessions to The Private Sector

Via AAA

Sorry Amber, for Calif. Republicans you’re just not as important as this precious, precious money.

The L.A. Times is reporting Clear Channel has its eye on 674 state owned digital billboards on California Highways. The billboards were installed to alert drivers to road hazards and for Amber Alerts providing “urgent bulletins in the most serious child-abduction cases.”

But now the state is listening to Clear Channel.

Apparently California needs money. In the Governor’s budget it says, “chronic underinvestment has increased congestion and has resulted in California having some of the most distressed highway and road conditions in the United States.”

Of course, this is the neo-liberal fantasy:

1. the government under-funds infrastructure
2. infrastructure falls apart
3. Conservatives claim that government can’t be trusted and we need private industry and competition!
4. Conservatives then make private, exclusive deals with corporations so they can sweep in to the rescue/for the profit.

I can’t imagine this proposal going very far, but the whining about being broke and the publicity that follows may be intended to prepare voters for a comparatively less disgusting option.

As argued in the L.A. Times story, yes it’s an eyesore, yes it might be dangerous to drivers, yes it will train people pay less attention to a sign designed to help abducted children and tell them about emergencies - thereby nearly nullifying it. But more important that that, it’s public space and public property that belongs to us, not corporations.

But perhaps you’re more fiscally minded. This is another bad deal made by politicians with advertising and marketing companies. (Politicians who are most likely being lobbied by and receiving campaign donations from Clear Channel.) Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster) says the money will be used for highway repair and potentially may be “tens of millions of dollars.” The California Transportation Commission’s annual budget is $28,466,000,000.

Another drop in the bucket. Sorry Amber.

Thanks for the tip from reader Sam.