Results tagged “ban”

On the heels of West Hollywood and Santa Monica, Los Angeles councilmembers will consider banning the practice of declawing. "Declawing is not a simple cosmetic procedure akin to a manicure or a pedicure," says the motion, authored by Councilmember Paul Koretz and Bill Rosendahl.

The road to legalizing marijuana for all in California takes another step tomorrow. The California Assembly Public Safety Committee tomorrow will hold an informational hearing "on the implications of taxing and regulating marijuana similarly to alcoholic beverages," according to a press release from Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), chair of the committee and author of the legislation.

A Los Angeles city council committee will look into the long-delayed outdoor smoking ban draft ordinance this morning. If approved, it will then move on to the full city council where if passed, the ban will go into affect after a six-month education campaign. Basically, the ban says no smoking--unless you're just walking by--within 10 feet of an established outdoor dining area (think restaurants and cafes with sidewalk dining or outdoor food courts).

We see it everyday on Los Angeles roads. Drivers eating, reading, illegally talking on a cell phone, checking Google Maps on their iPhone, painting nails, etc. So much for paying attention, not to mention the lack of turn signals used in by L.A. drivers (annoying!).

Nearly two months into a ban on new digital billboards and supergraphics, a judge sided with the city of Los Angeles after one advertising company challenged the law. Liberty Media said exceptions had been granted in the past and that City Council had violated state law dictating open meetings. U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins said "none of theese claims have merit" in her tentative decision.

For the first time since 2002, the Los Angeles city council today voted to ban new billboards and supergraphics. Take note, this is not a moratorium like in the past, this is a b-a-n. The last time such an action was approved, the city ended up in years of litigation--some of still ongoing--thanks to a pile of lawsuits from the billboard industry who have reportedly installed thousands of illegal billboards in the meantime. Those same folks and a good number of their lobbyists who showed at today's meeting still oppose this and warn of constitutional rights being diminished. A lawyer representing the Roosevelt Hotel said the "ordinance has significant constitutional issues, and would have a legal challenge against it on constitutional grounds for substantive due process, procedural due process, and vague and ambiguous grounds." The ban also the conversion of billboards to digital ones and commercial signs visible from freeways.

Although the ban of bicycles on a handful of rush hour Metro trains is not strictly enforced, the rule is still on the books. After threatening to enforce the rule, officials changed their tune and most recently, the transit agency "piloted a program of taking out seats to make more space for bikes on trains," reported Damien Newton at Streetsblog. "The first step in the public process to end the ban will be a pair of meetings this Thursday in Metro Headquarters at noon and 6 P.M. The meetings will be held at the Board Overflow Room on the Third Floor across from the cafeteria." For more details on the public meetings, head over to this flyer (.pdf).

If you live in an apartment and you don't appreciate your neighbors' cigarette smoke drifting in from common areas into your area, is there anything you can do besides close your window? Or move? In Long Beach, landlords and tenants interested in finding out their options plan to meet this afternoon for the "Smoke Free Apartments Community Forum" hosted by the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, explains the Press-Telegram.

Orange County's Laguna Beach could be another Californian city to ban the use of plastic bags. Last night the City Council unanimously passed a motion that moves the discussion to the next level, reports the OC Register. Their environmental committee will now look further into the ban, which many believe "will help save both the environment and retailers' bottom lines." Council members want to be certain that local businesses have ample warning time, but also acknowledge the potential for area stores to absorb costs of the ban by selling reusable bags.

Who eats foie gras? Not West Hollywood restaurant-goers, at least not anymore. Despite the recent failure of Chicago's City Council to ban foie gras in that city, West Hollywood is charging ahead with a new city ordinance to prevent the sale of foie gras in restaurants.

So Santa Monica was getting ready to ban plastic bags earlier this week when the plastic bag industry with their ridiculous website, savetheplasticbag.com (what is with that Obama picture they're using?), threatened to sue them, writes GreenLAGirl. The problem was that Santa Monica did not do an environmental impact report so the City Council deferred action until that was done. City staff said that shouldn't push back the date of banning plastic bags since they had other studies to do too and now they will do them concurrently. Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena and Los Angeles have all recently passed or are looking into plastic bag bans over the past year.

In a ruling that surely is making neighborhood activists rejoice, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals "ruled that Los Angeles’ 2002 citywide outdoor advertising ban did not violate a sign company's 1st Amendment right to free speech." This means the city, which attempted to regulate the thousands of blightful billboards seven years ago before being hit with a barrage of lawsuits, can now go do that with more confidence.

Lawyers for victims of the deadly Chatsworth Metrolink train crash in September say that engineer Robert Sanchez regularly used his cell phone while on the job. An "employee complained to the company about the use of a cell phone by engineer Robert Sanchez, but the company ignored the complaint," the lawyers said. Veolia, the company contracted by Metrolink to supply engineers, apparently had "busted" Sanchez a few months before the accident during a routine field test, the laywers also said. Sanchez, who died, sent a text message 22 seconds before the commuter train crashed head on with a freight train killing 24 other people on September 12. Veolia says they have a strict cell phone ban policy, but are not discussing the crash as the federal investigation is still ongoing and due to litigation.

Banned for a little over a month now, Pasadena police will be out making sure smokers don't light up along the parade route at next week's Tournament of the Roses. They plan to educate people rather than enforce, but if someone refuses to put out their cigarette, the first ticket is $100 and further violations go up to $500.

Along with a moratorium on foreclosure-related evictions, the LA City Council yesterday also passed a three-month moratorium banning any new signs (billboards, supergraphics and the conversation to digital billboards) for three months while the City Attorney and Planning Department draft permanent changes to the City’s sign ordinance to better regulate advertising in the City.

Yesterday was about more ire than tobacco sparking on the streets of Glendale, as it marked the kick off for a new ban on "smoking in hallways of apartment complexes and in public areas - including parks, parking lots and parking structures, and even standing in line to use the ATM."

After more than six months since it was first proposed, Pasadena officials finally passed their new smoking ordinance last night. "The new rules will prohibit smoking in outdoor shopping and dining areas, in ATM and movie ticket lines, within 20 feet of building entrances and at outdoor events like the Rose Parade. That would make it nearly impossible to smoke in Old Pasadena, and other commercial districts of the city," reports the Pasadena Star News. "Violators would be fined $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second and $500 for third or subsequent violations, according to staff reports. Smoking in parks is already prohibited in the city." The ban could go into effect in 30 days, but the city may take some time to develop a marketing campaign first.

The next in a series of local cities considering smoking in public bans is Pasadena. After a hearing in May and last week, the council is expected to vote and most likely pass a resolution that will "prohibit smoking in outdoor malls, shopping areas and centers; in outdoor dining areas; in waiting lines, such as at movie theaters, ATMS, ect.; and at public events like the Rose Parade and community fairs," according to the Pasadena Star News.

It's not directly Los Angeles or even California, but will today's decision have any effects on the Proposition 8 (eliminates gay marriage) campaigns? Or is this an example of other states following California's lead? "The court ruled 4-3 Friday that gay and lesbian couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry under the state constitution, and Connecticut's civil unions law does not provide those couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples," the Associated reports. "Justices overturned a lower court ruling and ordered that court to find in favor of the plaintiffs."

The only legal spot along the South Bay coastline to smoke a cigarette has been put out. Redondo Beach City Council last night voted to ban smoking at the beach and in public parks. One councilman voted no saying police don't have the resources to enforce the law. But with that thinking, most everything shouldn't be a law. The next headline will be "Redondo Beach to ban stop signs."

The LAPD is gearing up for January 1st, 2009 when texting while driving will be added to this year's earlier cell phone ban. "Nationwide studies have linked cell phone use, including texting, to driver distraction resulting in traffic collisions,” Chief William Bratton said in a statement. “Drivers can lose substantial cognitive awareness with the situation on the road when they divert their attention away, for any reason, including cell phone texting. In fact, there were two recent fatal traffic collisions which occurred in the City of Los Angeles where it was determined that cell phone texting was a significant causal factor in both collisions." The law imposes identical fines to those associated with failing to use a hands-free device when using a cell phone while driving: $20 for a first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses (but don't forget to add in court fees, etc, making the fines actually much higher).

Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill today banning texting while driving in California. It will go into effect on January 1st, 2009.

After a two week break, the Los Angeles City Council is back to business. Today, they passed two motions of note. They extended the the year long moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries for another six months (remember last year when the DEA raided a dispensary in Hollywood as council voted on this?). The city is looking to draft regulations covering the facilities and the city attorney's office needs more time to create a policy "that would prevent abuses while still ensuring that such facilities are available to legitimate medical patients," according to the LA Times.

Crossing the campus from your Econ lecture to your Geology lab can be a pain in the ass, especially when time is tight and you're navigating a sea of student bodies plugged into iPods and hunched over text messages. For some, the solution is as easy as the four wheels of a skateboard.

Now that fast food is banned in South LA in order to make way for healthier options to exist in the region, what's next? In New York, it was reported today that "food stamp sales have grown to $90,000 in 2007 from $3,000 in 2002." Part of the increase comes from technological advancement with wireless or scrip debit food stamp machines at the markets. 118 markets in California use these machines with over 25 of them located in the Los Angeles area. Unfortunately, only a couple of the South LA farmers market use EBT and food stamps. Or is it that there are only a few South LA markets in the first place?

... if Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill that's headed to his desk.

$2 million was raised at the Los Angeles Equality Awards held in Los Angeles this past Saturday. Most of the donations went towards Equality California's NO on 8 campaign, which opposes the proposed ban on gay marriage in California. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU-California) donated $500,000, the California Teacher’s Association announced a contribution $250,000 and AT&T donated $25,000, according to the WeHoNews. Equality California also donated a half million of their own money not collected at the fundraiser that night.

Turn on that hose during the day and you may find you've been hosed--the LA City Council unanimously approved a change to the outdoor water usage ordinance yesterday that calls for one extra hour of banned watering time and double the fine.

In an attempt to give the public more information about the nutritional value of the fast food they're consuming, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is presenting a proposal next week that would require fast food restaurants to post calorie counts on menus:

If the measure is successful, Los Angeles County would be following in the footsteps of New York and a handful of other municipalities nationwide that already have implemented calorie counts on the menus at major restaurant chains, or are taking steps to do so.

Continue reading "The New Numbers Game: Fast Food Calorie Counts"

Come a year and a half from now, trans fat in California restaurants will be a thing of the past. Then in 2011, baked goods will be trans fat free. It's all thanks to AB 97 by Assemblymember Tony Mendoza (D-Norwalk), which Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law today.