For more than 15 years, community activist Larry Lipton has spoken out against bandit signs in northwest Harris County. Bandit signs are those unsightly ads that pop up at street corners and on telephone poles.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday for an emergency measure that would prohibit new digital billboards, multistory supergraphics and certain signs that face freeways from being installed throughout the city.

The ordinance was unanimously approved by the council out of fears that a federal judge could issue an injunction later this month blocking the city from enforcing an existing temporary ban on outdoor signs.

Mayor John Cook wants to place a 90-day moratorium on new billboards while the city sorts out its next step.

Billboards have come a long way since the shaving cream signs erected one after another on the roadsides, or the Mail Pouch entreaties painted on the sides of yesteryear's barns.

When the parent company of Clear Channel Communications Inc. laid off 590 radio employees this week, it announced a novel employee incentive to boost revenues.