Digital Signs Energize Old Fights Over Billboards

A series of disputes over digital signs has arrived in sunny San Diego, where critics say a longstanding strict stance on new billboards is now under pressure from a proposal to allow outdoor digital kiosks.

The city council’s economic development committee last month voted in favor of bringing the proposal to the full city council, clearing the way for it to vote on the question, which it is expected to do in May. A 1981 U.S. Supreme Court ruling permitted the city to ban any new billboards that don’t meet certain standards, though those built before then are still standing.