A trailer featuring an explicit Sex on Demand advertisement is causing frustration among residents in a Southern California neighborhood, yet legal challenges complicate its removal.
The pink and white trailer has been spotted in North Long Beach for several months, drawing numerous complaints from locals who are displeased about its promotion of the Pinky’s Girls website.
This site offers “adult fun” and “meetings” in over 400 cities nationwide, including Long Beach, according to the website.
Currently, the trailer is parked at Cherry Avenue and Del Amo Boulevard, where residents indicate it has been since at least Thursday.
Residents are worried about advertisements appearing in an area that already deals with issues of prostitution and human trafficking, while others are concerned that children might encounter inappropriate messages.
Despite the outcry, city officials have encountered legal obstacles following a previous lawsuit against a similar advertisement trailer in Long Beach.
In 2018, the City Attorney’s Office mandated the removal of a trailer promoting a cleaning business, which was legally parked and used for transporting cleaning supplies. The company sued, claiming its constitutional rights were violated when the city seized the trailer.
A judge determined that the city’s restrictions on advertising based on content were improper and did not meet the legal requirement known as “strict scrutiny.” The ruling concluded that the city violated the company’s First Amendment rights, resulting in nearly $300,000 in damages to the business.
Councilman Tunua Slash Ntuku, whose district encompasses the location of the trailer, stated that city officials and the Long Beach Police Department are fully aware of the situation and the responsibility of those moving the trailer around various neighborhoods.
She noted that the trailer had previously been placed in nearby District 9, an area notorious for human trafficking.
Parking enforcement is working with multiple tow trucks, but city regulations allow vehicles to stay in one spot for 72 hours, and trailers can be returned after being relocated.
“Playing a game of whack-a-mole every 72 hours is not a permanent solution,” Slash Ntuku expressed in a Facebook post.
She is collaborating with law enforcement and the city attorney to develop a lasting solution. Proposed measures include licensing requirements for trailer operators advertising on public roadways and establishing buffer zones near schools and daycare centers to restrict ads for adult content, tobacco, and alcohol.
Long Beach police have stated they will take enforcement actions as necessary but did not detail specific measures. In the meantime, Slash Ntuku encouraged residents to keep reporting the trailers to police and to document disturbances through the GO Long Beach app.
In their frustration over the lack of a lasting resolution, some residents have even suggested the idea of spray painting the trailer themselves on social media.
