A trailer plastered in vile ads for sex on demand has outraged a Southern California neighborhood, but a legal roadblock has made getting rid of it anything but simple.
The pink-and-white, two-wheel trailer has been moving around North Long Beach for months, drawing dozens of complaints from disgusted neighbors who say it promotes the Pinkys Girls website.
The site advertises “adult fun” and “hookups” in more than 400 cities across the country, including Long Beach, according to the Long Beach Post.
The trailer’s latest stop is at the intersection of Cherry Avenue and Del Amo Boulevard, where residents say it has been parked since at least Thursday.
Neighbors have voiced concerns that the ads are appearing in an area already plagued by prostitution and human trafficking, while others worry children are being exposed to the explicit messaging.
Despite repeated complaints, city officials face legal hurdles after Long Beach lost a similar case involving advertising trailers.
In 2018, the city attorney’s office ordered Hit & Miss Enterprises to remove trailers that advertised the company’s cleaning business while legally parked on public streets and used to store and transport cleaning supplies. After the city impounded the trailers, the company sued, arguing its constitutional rights were violated.
A judge ruled the city had improperly restricted advertising based on its content and found the policy failed the legal standard known as “strict scrutiny.” The court concluded the city violated the company’s First Amendment rights and ordered it to pay nearly $300,000 in damages.
Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, whose 8th District includes the intersection where the trailer is now parked, said city officials and the Long Beach Police Department are “highly aware” of the situation and the “bad actor” responsible for repeatedly moving the trailer from neighborhood to neighborhood.
According to Thrash-Ntuk, the trailer had previously been parked in neighboring District 9, including along Long Beach Boulevard, a corridor known for human trafficking.
Parking enforcement has coordinated multiple tows, but the city’s ordinance allows vehicles to remain in the same location for up to 72 hours, allowing the trailer to return after being moved.
“Playing a game of whack-a-mole every 72 hours is not a permanent solution,” Thrash-Ntuk wrote in a Facebook post.
She said she is now working with the police department and the city attorney’s office on possible long-term solutions, including requiring the trailer’s operator to obtain a business license to advertise from public streets and creating buffer zones that restrict advertisements for adult content, cigarettes, and alcohol near elementary schools and daycare centers.
Long Beach police said they “have and will continue to take enforcement action when appropriate,” but did not specify what measures could be taken.
In the meantime, Thrash-Ntuk urged residents to continue reporting the trailer to police and through the GO Long Beach app to build a record of the nuisance.
Some neighbors, frustrated by the lack of a permanent fix, have even floated the idea of spray-painting the trailer themselves on social media.
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