The impounding and the towing has begun.

Los Angeles finally has the authority to sweep unhitched mobile advertising trailers from city streets where they have been taking up parking spaces, impeding visibility and attracting vandalism and graffiti.

City Councilman Dennis Zine Monday put the operators on notice.  "We have already started citing and impounding the trailers," he said.

At a Canoga Park news conference, Zine said the owners of mobile advertising trailers will face misdemeanor penalties that range from $250 to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. Zine represents Council District 3.

The trailers "are an eyesore and a safety hazard," he added.

Over the weekend, more than a dozen unhitched advertising trailers were impounded and towed. More than 30 were cited.

Last year Assembly members Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley) and Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) successfully sponsored legislation to give the city the power to regulate the trailers. Governor Schwarzenegger signed it into law on Sept. 30.  

Their bill, AB 2756, requires that unhitched ad trailers may only be placed in parking lots and parking garages–not on the streets.

"Mobile billboards are a blight that must be stricken from our community.  They take away valuable parking spaces, create safety hazards, and are just plain ugly.  But change is coming in 2011 that will clean up our community," Blumenfield said Monday.

At the news conference, Zine was interupted by Bruce Boyer, head of Lone Star Security and owner of a mobile advertising trailer company. Wearing his trademark black cowboy hat, Boyer walked up to Zine and began speaking to the news cameras.

"This law is a violation of my First Amendment rights. I'm going to sue the city," he said. Boyer then started reading aloud from a section of the California Vehicle Code, which he claims supports his view that mobile advertising trailer companies have a right to park the trailers on city streets.

"We have ways to use these trailers," Boyer added. "And I have a First Amendment right to advertise. It's a freedom of speech issue."

After Boyer finished and walked away, Zine said a group of citizens will work with the Department of Transportation to issue warnings and impose penalties on those who violate the ban.

Councilman Greig Smith sponsored the enabling ordinance to allow the city to act.

"The ordinance to regulate mobile billboards in L.A. is long overdue," Mitch Englander, Smith's chief of staff, told Chatsworth Patch. "We received overwhelming support from the community in our effort to crack down on the unhitched advertising trailers," he said.

"Now we have local control over this issue so that we can finally ban these nuisances from our streets," he said. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich drafted the ordinance which was passed unanimously by the City Council on Dec. 17.

Smith represents Council District 12 which includes Chatsworth.

"Our position has always been that these unhitched trailer signs are more than an eyesore – they are a blight and a safety hazard in our community. They obstruct drivers' view of the road, take up parking space, often fall over in high winds and become even more of an obstacle, and are one of the most common complaints we hear from constituents," Smith has said.

"I will do everything in my power to eradicate them from the streets," said Zine. He set up his own task force to haul them away.

Over the weekend Boyer removed wheels and axles from some of his trailers, now calling them sleighs. He claims that they are covered by different regulations and the new ordinance doesn't apply. "They are now sleighs -- like Santa's -- and are not legally mobile billboards," Boyer told the Daily News.

"We expect fully that Bruce Boyer, whose Lone Star Security & Video Inc. has been a major source of these trailers, to sue. We will see him in court," Smith has said.

Unhitched mobile trailers have been a controversial topic for years. The upright advertisements have been considered vehicles because they have license plates. Residents have long complained about the look of the trailers, that they obstruct the view of oncoming traffic and that they tip over in the wind blocking sidewalks and streets. The Chatsworth Neighborhood Council has partnered with Smith for several years to remove the trailers from major neighborhood streets.

"We've gotten hundreds of calls, thousands of e-mails," Matt Myerhoff, Smith's communications director, has said. "People consider them to be intrusive. They make it hard to see the roadway. You have to ease your way around them. They take up parking spaces, and they're eyesores," he said.

Myerhoff said that until now, ridding the streets of the trailers hasn't been an easy task. Originally, local officials were required to post "no unhitched trailer" signs at every entrance to the city.  With so many entry streets in Los Angeles, that was impractical. Also, "it's tricky, because [it involves] the First Amendment," he said. "We can't ban the advertisements; we can't say 'you're not allowed to put up any or certain advertisements.' But we can regulate how and where [mobile ad trailer owners] are allowed to park them."

To report a mobile ad trailer, call the DOT Parking Enforcement Communications Division at 818-752-5100 or 213-485-4181. Immediately Press "2" to report a parking violation. Be ready to provide the trailer license plate number and the street block location.

"It's good that they're impounding these signs," said Chris Knudsen of Chatsworth, who watched the sweep on Vanowen Street Sunday morning. He told the Daily News, "It's a great way to start the New Year!"