Imagine driving on Interstate 8 as it passes through La Mesa and coming face-to-face with a huge digital billboard, blaring its tacky advertisements across both sides of the freeway.

It would be ugly, imposing, and most importantly, a very dangerous distraction along that busy stretch of I-8 between Lake Murray Blvd. and Severin and Fuerte Drives.

New billboards have been banned in La Mesa and most of the county for decades. Our lovely city enjoys a well-earned reputation for protecting our quality of life and beautiful scenery and shielding drivers from big intrusive roadside signs.

But a majority of our city council members have broken ranks with residents and taken the first steps to permit huge digital billboards overlooking the freeway at Grossmont Center. One proposal states the sign structures could be as high as 80 feet with an advertisement screen of 20 by 60 feet. They would flash ads every eight seconds, 24-hours a day, and could be seen for miles from Mt. Helix and other hillsides to Sharp Grossmont Hospital.

How would flashing lights in residents and hospital patients’ windows day and night affect their well-being? How will a view of a digital billboard affect our property values? I’m sure you know the answers.

The new group “Keep La Mesa Beautiful” shares your concerns about the negative impacts of digital billboards on our safety, quality-of-life, and property values.

Keep La Mesa Beautiful is protesting the city council’s blatant disregard of the public’s concerns by its September 26th decision to reverse its previous rejection of the digital billboard proposal. (Council Member Jack Shu cast the only “no” vote in that regrettable 4-1 decision to seek a “Request for Proposals” from billboard companies.)

Mayor Mark Arapostathis and council members Colin Parent, Patricia Dillard, and Laura Lothian ignore the well-founded concerns of La Mesa residents. They claim revenue from digital billboards will fund our police department and increase public safety, but conveniently ignore a mountain of evidence that digital billboards distract drivers and are a contributing factor to accidents. (The California Highway Patrol reports 1,642 collisions, 13 fatalities, and 616 injuries along I-8 through La Mesa in the past five years.)

We know you share our concerns about this irresponsible proposal. Help us send a strong message to City Hall that we will not stand by quietly while our mayor and three council members try to impose this unnecessary blight on our city, endanger our lives, and harm our quality-of-life.

Please voice your opposition to council members by leaving a message at (619) 667-1106. If you want to sign a petition email us at: [email protected].

Together, we can pull the plug on this terrible proposal!

“Keep La Mesa Beautiful” is a volunteer group of local residents.