California Invades Private Property To Take Down 'Trump' Sign in LA
A large Hollywood-style “Trump” sign that was erected overnight from Monday to Tuesday on a private hillside near the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles was quickly dismantled by transit workers.
California is overwhelmingly liberal, but even in Los Angeles, President Donald Trump has his supporters.
It isn’t known who put up the Trump sign, but it definitely took some work, and of course it had a uniquely southern California vibe.
The Los Angeles Times reported that beginning at sunrise, drivers on the freeway were greeted by the sign, which was erected on the Sepulveda Pass hillside.
The stretch of highway connects the San Fernando Valley with greater LA, and it is heavily traveled.
Kudos to those who put the time and effort into campaigning for the president while using the iconic Hollywood sign as a muse.
The sign was beautifully crafted.
A Trump sign was erected on the hillside along the 405 Freeway near the Sepulveda Pass. It’s unclear who put it there ?: Sky5 pic.twitter.com/ac71WxbYW2
— KTLA (@KTLA) October 6, 2020
But, as creative as the sign-making was, ultimately it was still put up in California, where liberals run amok and Democrats control just about everything.
The Trump sign erected along the Sepulveda Pass was targeted by public officials quickly Tuesday, and they sent workers onto private property to take it down, according to the Times.
Even property rights in California aren’t sacred.
The California Department of Transportation ensured the sign was taken down by around 9 a.m.
The excuse given for going onto private property to take down the letters of a sign supporting a sitting Republican president was that the sign wasn’t safe.
“This was a life and safety issue because there were concerns about distracted driving,” Lauren Wonder, chief public information officer for the California Department of Transportation, told the Times.
The sign was not completely removed, but workers with the agency did damage it enough to ensure it wouldn’t be visible from the highway.
‘TRUMP’ SIGN TAKEN DOWN: Workers were on a hillside along the 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass by 9 a.m. to take down the letters, which were put up sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning. https://t.co/efgS57LgnH pic.twitter.com/4CUbo51lUC
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) October 6, 2020
Wonder added the workers merely “laid [the sign] down so it wasn’t a visual distraction.”
That answer is more than a little disingenuous.
If you’ve ever driven in Los Angeles, or particularly down the 405 in the Sepulveda Pass, you know there’s plenty of signage along that stretch of highway.
Apparently the billboards in the area are just fine.
The California Department of Transportation didn’t seem all that bothered by the safety issues of Black Lives Matter activists standing on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles this past summer:
BREAKING: Black Lives Matter protest in downtown LA for #GeorgeFloyd is spilling onto the 101 freeway and all lanes of traffic are being blocked. @FOXLA live overhead right now. pic.twitter.com/5XKwHdZ5vX
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 28, 2020
In other areas of the city, the homeless will literally impede traffic in attempts to hector you into giving them money.
There’s no way to know for sure, of course, but it’s certainly fair to wonder if targeting the Trump sign was about politics.
Perhaps the only safety issue was that the sign emotionally triggered the right people — California’s liberals.
Some of these people truly believe language they do not agree with equates to violence.
Violating private property rights and stifling free political expression may very well have been the remedy to that in this case.
For all of its physical beauty, the Los Angeles area sure is an ugly place.
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