NEW RULES – Another attempt to regulate the west side of Ocean
Front Walk
CITY COUNCIL
MOTION
Venice Beach is one of the
signature attractions in Southern California, drawing more visitors than any
other site in Los Angeles County. Each year, millions of people are drawn to the
colorful and entertaining spectacle of performers and personalities offering a
lively blend of art, entertainment and information along the boardwalk at Ocean
Front Walk (OFW).
It has long been the goal of the community
and the City to preserve the unique character and personality of the Venice
Boardwalk by restricting commercial activity on the city-owned west side of
Ocean Front walk, making that area available to artists, entertainers and the
unique spirits who have come to give the area its international
renown.
Efforts to restrict commercial
activity have been difficult. At the urging of the Los Angeles City Attorney,
the City Council last summer repealed the ordinance governing commercial
activity at Venice Beach. Since that time, the City Attorney has been working
closely with the council office and community stakeholders to develop a
replacement ordinance that protects free speech and expression, restricts
commercial activity, and survives constitutional
scrutiny.
I THEREFORE MOVE that the
City Council adopt the ordinance attached to this Motion revisions provisions of
Section 42.15 of the Los Angeles Municipal
Code.
I FURTHER MOVE that the City
Council officially declare Venice Beach’s Ocean Front Walk, from the Santa
Monica border to 17th Street, to be an officially recognized “Free Speech
and Expression Zone.”
I FURTHER
MOVE that the City Council request the Department of Recreation & Parks form
a “Venice Beach Free Expression Protection Working Group” with the
Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council and all relevant Venice Boardwalk
stakeholders. The working group
should:
• monitor the
effectiveness of the new ordinance and suggest improvements and modifications to
the neighborhood council and the local council office;
• study the Venice Beach
“lottery” and other Recreation & Parks programs governing the
boardwalk and make suggestions on whether to change, replace or abolish
them.
• recommend whether and how
excessive noise can be curbed through a permit system for amplified
sound.
I FURTHER MOVE that the City
Council request the Department of Recreation & Parks, the Los Angeles City
Attorney, and the Los Angeles Police Department conduct a public education
campaign to educate all boardwalk stakeholders on the new
ordinance.
Presented by BILL
ROSENDAHL
Councilman, 11th
District
(Motion Approved
Unanimously)
THE
ORDINANCE
An ordinance amending Los
Angeles Municipal Code Section 42.15 to prohibit vending on public beach lands
and adjacent public properties, and to impose time, place and manner regulations
on expressive activities exempted from the
ban.
THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF LOS
ANGELES
DO ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Section 42.15 of
the Los Angeles Municipal Code is amended to read:
SEC. 42.15 Vending on Beaches
Prohibited.
No person shall
engage in vending activity upon any public beach lands or beach properties
adjoining the waterfront of the Pacific Ocean, or upon any immediately adjacent
boardwalk, sidewalk or public way between the southerly boundary of the City of
Santa Monica and the northerly boundary of the City of El Segundo and between
the northwesterly boundary of the City of Santa Monica and the northwesterly
boundary of the City of Los Angeles.
(a)
Findings and Purpose.
The City
Council of the City of Los Angeles finds and declares as follows:
(1) The Venice Beach Boardwalk is a
major tourist attraction in the City of Los Angeles, historically significant
for its performance and visual artists as well as free speech advocates.
Unregulated vending adversely affects the historic character of the Venice Beach
Boardwalk by deterring tourists from visiting and shopping along the Boardwalk
resulting in an economic and cultural loss to
City;
(2) Unregulated vending along
the Venice Beach Boardwalk from tables, pushcarts, stands, or by persons impedes
the orderly movement of pedestrian traffic and may make the Boardwalk unsafe for
pedestrians by limiting the City’s ability to effect crowd management and
control;
(3) Unregulated vending along
the Venice Beach Boardwalk may impede the ingress and egress of emergency and
public safety vehicles by creating physical obstacles to emergency response and
administration of aid to those in need of immediate medical attention and to
victims of criminal activity;
(4)
Revitalization of the Venice Beach Boardwalk requires a vibrant and stable
merchant, artist, performer and free speech advocacy community. Un-regulated
vending could serve to undermine the Boardwalk’s commercial life by
reducing sales from local merchants thereby eroding the City’s tax
revenues due to unfair competition, and by offering additional opportunity for
the sale of stolen, defective or counterfeit
merchandise;
(5) Unregulated vending
causes visual clutter/blight along the Boardwalk, impeding views of the beach
and the Pacific Ocean threatening the City’s ability to attract tourists
and preserve businesses along the
Boardwalk;
(6) Unnecessary, excessive
and annoying noise detrimental to the public health, welfare and safety, and
contrary to the public interest, on the Venice Beach Boardwalk harms residents,
businesses, and the historic character of the Boardwalk, diminishing the quality
of life for those who visit, live or work on or near the
Boardwalk;
(7) The amount of space on
the Venice Beach Boardwalk that is available for performing and visual artists
and for political advocacy is limited due to the size of the Boardwalk and the
large crowds of visitors that the Boardwalk attracts. Prior to the
City’s Board of Recreation and Parks Commission establishing a program for
assignment of spaces, there were numerous altercations over the locations and
amounts of space that any one person or organization could use. Frequently, the
altercations became violent requiring law enforcement response to preserve the
public peace. Persons wishing to secure spaces often arrived at the Boardwalk
prior to dawn and created loud noises in setting up their displays, thereby
disturbing the public peace and requiring law enforcement response.
Unregulated, the Boardwalk became a lawless area, where only the strongest and
earliest arrivals could secure space to exercise their rights of free expression
without threat of intimidation. It is, therefore, necessary to regulate the use
of the limited space on the Boardwalk to prevent breaches of the public peace
and to allocate the limited space available fairly to all who desire to use it
for lawful
purposes.
(b)
Definitions.
For purposes of this
section, the following words or phrases shall have the following
meanings:
(1) Food or Food Products.
Any type of edible substance or
beverage.
(2) Goods or Merchandise.
Any items that are not a food
product.
(3) Vend or Vending. To
sell, offer for sale, expose for sale, solicit offers to purchase, or to barter
food, goods, merchandise or services in any area from a stand, table, pushcart,
motor vehicle, bicycle, or by a person with or without the use of any other
device or other method of transportation, or to require someone to pay a fee or
to set, negotiate, or establish a fee before providing goods or services.
Requests for donations in exchange for food, goods, merchandise or services also
constitute vending.
(4) Vendor. A
person who vends. This includes a vendor who is an employee or agent of
another.
(5) Pushcart. Any
non-motorized mobile device used to
vend.
(c)
Exemptions.
The provisions of this
section shall not apply to:
(1) Any
individual or organization vending newspapers, leaflets, pamphlets, bumper
stickers or buttons;
(2) Any
individual or organization that vends the following items, which have been
created, written or composed by the vendor: books, cassette tapes, compact
discs, digital video discs, paintings, photographs, sculptures or any other item
that is inherently communicative and has nominal utility apart from its
communication;
Although an item may
have some expressive purpose, it will be deemed to have more than nominal
utility apart from its communication if it has a common and dominant
non-expressive purpose. Examples of items that have more than nominal utility
apart from their communication and thus may not be vended under the provisions
of this section, include, but are not limited to, the following: housewares,
appliances, articles of clothing, sunglasses, auto parts, oils, incense,
perfume, lotions, candles, jewelry, toys, and stuffed
animals;
(3) Performances by
performing artists and
musicians.
(d)
Use of City Property
Prohibited.
No person shall use
any City-owned or maintained street furniture or structure, including but not
limited to, any bench, planter or trash receptacle installed on public property,
in connection with their artistic performance or for the display of anything
whatsoever not otherwise prohibited by this section.
(e)
Permit Required for Exempted
Activities.
No person or
organization engaging in activities specifically exempted from this section by
Subsection C shall set up a display table, easel or other furniture or place any
item to be used in connection with the exempted activity on the property
described in this section unless that person or organization holds a valid
“Public Expression Participant Permit” issued pursuant to the
program adopted by the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners on October 1,
2003, as that program may be amended from time to time. The permit is not
transferrable and the permittee must be present in the permitted space at all
times that the permitted activity is occurring. No person shall place or allow
anything in the permitted space that extends beyond the boundaries of the
permitted space, nor shall the permittee conduct any activities requiring a
permit outside the boundaries of the permitted space. No person shall set up or
take down or use a permitted space between sunset and 9:00 a.m. No person shall
place or allow any item (except an umbrella or other sun shade) exceeding four
feet above ground in the permitted space, nor shall any person cause or allow a
permitted space to be enclosed on more than two sides. No person shall alter or
reproduce any permit issued pursuant to the program, nor shall any person
possess an altered, reproduced or falsified permit
document.
EXCEPTION: Any person or
organization, whether or not a permit holder, may use any designated but
unoccupied space for activities specifically exempted from this section by
Subsection C, after 12:00 p.m. daily for the remainder of that day; provided,
that if the permittee to whom the space was assigned pursuant to the program
rules established by the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners for the
“Public Expression Participant Permit” program arrives after 12:00
p.m. and asks to use the assigned space, the person or organization not assigned
to the space must immediately relinquish the space to the assigned permittee.
The program rules established by the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners
for the “Public Expression Participant Permit” program, as they may
be amended from time to time, are incorporated here by this reference and no
person or organization occupying a designated but unoccupied space shall violate
a program rule.
A permit may be
revoked in accordance with the program adopted by the Board of Recreation and
Park Commissioners for violations of the program rules. Revocation shall occur
upon a third violation of a program rule, a third violation of the conditions
set forth in this section, or a combination of any three violations of the
program rules or conditions set forth in this section. A notice of violation of
the program rules may be appealed to the Department of Recreation and Parks
District Supervisor. Revocation of a permit may be appealed to a three-person
board consisting of: a representative from the Park Advisory Board designated by
the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners; a member of the Venice
Neighborhood Council appointed by the Neighborhood Council; and, the General
Manager of the Department of Recreation and Parks or the General Manager’s
designee. A majority of the three-person board shall constitute a quorum. No
action of the three-person board may be taken by less than a majority of its
members. The conclusion of the applicable appeal process shall constitute an
exhaustion of administrative remedies pursuant to California Code of Civil
Procedure Section 1094.5.
(f)
Noise Regulations.
No person on
property described in this section shall make or cause any noise that can be
heard at a distance greater than 50 feet from its source or that can be heard
inside the premises of an adjacent building or structure while the doors and
windows to the premises are closed. No person on property adjacent to the
property described in this section shall make or cause any noise that can be
heard on property described in this section at a distance greater than 50 feet
from its source or that can be heard inside the premises of any building or
structure located within 50 feet from the property described in this section
while the doors and windows to the premises are closed. No person shall use
amplified sound before 9:00 a.m. or after
sunset.
(g)
Opening and Closing Hours.
No
person shall engage in activities not otherwise prohibited by this section
between the hours of 10:30 p.m and 9:00
a.m.
Sec. 2. The City Clerk shall
certify to the passage of this ordinance and have it published in accordance
with Council policy, either in a daily newspaper circulated in the City of Los
Angeles or by posting for ten days in three public places in the City of Los
Angeles: one copy on the bulletin board located at the Main Street entrance to
the Los Angeles City Hall; one copy on the bulletin board located at the Main
Street entrance to the Los Angeles City Hall East; and one copy on the bulletin
board located at the Temple Street entrance to the Los Angeles County Hall of
Records.
I hereby certify that this
ordinance was passed by the Council of the City of Los Angeles, at its meeting
of January 31, 2006.
FRANK T.
MARTINEZ, City Clerk
Approved as to
Form and Legality
ROCKARD J. DELGADILLO, City
Attorney
Posted: Wed - February 1, 2006 at 11:29 AM