Bus Bench Vote Delayed as Englander Voices Concern

The City Council is expected to vote Friday on a 10-year contract with a Florida-based street furniture company to manage the city's nearly 6,000 bus benches.

The Board of Public Works selected Martin Outdoor Media among three
applicants to replace and manage the city's benches. The City Council debated the contract on Wednesday, with it generally receiving support, but a vote was put off amid concerns raised by Councilman Mitchell Englander.

Englander represents Chatsworth in Council District 12.

Under the terms of the contract Martin would replace the benches at the city's 4,000 bus stops with new benches and install 3,000 new trash cans. The city would retain ownership of the benches once they are installed.

The agreement would require Martin to pay the city at least $2.76
million in revenue from advertising on the benches over the life of the
contract. Martin would be prohibited from placing alcohol, tobacco, firearms or sexually explicit ads on the benches.

The contract also requires Martin executives to move the company's
headquarters from Florida to Los Angeles. Martin has also agreed to hire locally 30 administrative staff to manage the bench program.

Englander thinks Martin Outdoor Media has not been thoroughly vetted and that the contract lacked detail about how much revenue the benches will generate, aide Matt Myerhoff said.

Englander is also concerned that the final contract is with Martin
Outdoor Media, LLC, rather than its parent company, Martin Outdoor Media, Inc, which originally applied for the contract.

Englander was also concerned about a provision in the agreement to pay Martin $465,000 to expedite the replacement of existing benches.

"(Englander's) problems with the contract with the new bidder does not mean he supports Norman Bench Advertising,'' Myerhoff said, referring to the Canoga Park-based company that maintained the bus benches for more than a decade in exchange for advertising revenue. "He thinks there should be a new RFP process.''

The Studio City Neighborhood Council also expressed concern that benches approved by communities through the neighborhood council process be allowed to remain have no new advertising.

Norman Bench Advertising began removing some benches after it was not selected for the new contract. The company drew criticism from city officials for failing to disclose how many benches it has and how much money it receives from displaying ads on them.

-- City News Service