If the nightly light show known as TBN headquarters is not enough of a distraction for drivers on that stretch of the 405 freeway in Costa Mesa, fear not, more bright lights are coming to the other side of the freeway.
The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday approved a pair of giant LED signs atop 40-foot pylons at the Metro Pointe shopping center along the 405.
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Don't worry, Costa Mesans, you won't be able to see the signs from your homes. Well, some of you will if you are on your roofs. But proponents swear they are designed to only be picked up by the eyes of 405 drivers and passengers.
Council and city staff members swear the signs will only promote Metro Pointe tenants and not events, and that they will feature no animation so they won't be as obnoxious as the LED lights found on the Las Vegas strip (and along the 405 in Westminster and Huntington Beach).
The Los Angeles Times reports Councilman Steve Mensinger recused himself from the sign discussion, citing a financial interest with Metro Pointe's owner Arnel Development.
Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer, who used to work for and received campaign donations from Arnel's owner George Argyros, did vote for the signs. But not until the mayor got the other voting council members to go along with lowering the pylons holding the signs from 53 feet, as permitted by city planners, to 40 feet.
Righeimer reasoned that would put the signs at the same height as the South Coast Collection (SOCO) center just up the 405 from Metro Pointe.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.