Moratorium

City officials are considering an emergency, one-year moratorium on most commercial development in Santa Monica. The City Council, acting on a measure proposed by Councilwoman Judy Abdo, voted unanimously early Wednesday to instruct the city attorney to draw up the emergency ordinance. It is expected to return to the council for a full vote next week. The moratorium would apply to all nonresidential projects citywide, except for those filed before May 2. Projects on public lands, hospitals and the Third Street Mall area would be exempt, as would development on Santa Monica College lands.

A symbolic 40-hour "murder moratorium" in Los Angeles, timed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, concluded Sunday, with organizers pronouncing it a success. "We never had any illusions that we were going to end murder," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, one of the organizers. "The point was to get people to think about it. Get engaged. Get involved. This is your community." Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman, a department spokeswoman, said there were two homicides in the city during the moratorium.

At least two people were fatally shot Saturday, breaking a 40-hour symbolic "murder moratorium" called for by civil rights activists to mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. A man, 41, was struck in the upper body about noon in the 2000 block of East 105th Street as he sat on his front porch. He later died at a hospital. The killing may be gang-related, officials said. In another suspected gang-related shooting shortly after noon, a man, 31, was struck as he stood in an alley in the 1400 block of West 38th Street, police said.

The Westwood Homeowners Assn. is seeking a one-year moratorium on the construction and demolition of residential buildings in south Westwood Village. Association member Joyce Foster said the group represents about 3,000 families. They are asking for the moratorium until the new Westwood Community Plan is released and present density levels adjusted, she said.

So, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is proposing a six-month moratorium on foreign student visas (Sept. 29) to give the incompetent and ineffective INS time to get cracking on monitoring foreign student visas. "There has to be recognition that [our borders are] a sieve" she stated. Thank you, senator. Better to see the light later rather than never at all. Because of the state of national emergency and the probability of a long, drawn-out war, this is too little too late. A two-year moratorium would be more apropos.

It is time for a moratorium on intolerance in Monterey Park. We have a great city, with even greater people who are all in their own ways trying to make this a better place to live. We can't continue to progress toward excellence in living if we are to become polarized in perception or in fact as it relates to ethnic groups. The Asians in our community have every right to be here and to prosper in the "American Dream." Native-born Americans, themselves descendants of the immigrants of the world, can no longer continue to feel that they are somehow the chosen ones, entitled to special status because of their birthright.

No final landing Re "Marine tactic under review," June 21 It is foolish for anyone, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, to question whether there is a need for amphibious operations in the future. The concern that guided missiles make such operations too risky is not valid. The Japanese hurled thousands of guided missiles in the form of Kamikaze suicide planes at us at Okinawa and failed to stop the U.S. from taking the island. After the Soviet Union developed its atomic bomb, it was thought that amphibious landings were no longer possible, and that prediction proved just as foolish.

Jolted by the possibility of a syphilis outbreak among its ranks, a Los Angeles-based trade group that represents the adult film industry announced a nationwide moratorium on X-rated productions while more than 1,000 porn performers are tested. The Free Speech Coalition issued the call on its website after reporting that one performer tested positive for syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease, and had begun notifying sexual partners of that information. The moratorium was announced Saturday, a day after Los Angeles County's Public Health Department said it was investigating a cluster of possible syphilis cases within the porn industry.

Inside New Orleans' federal courthouse Monday, a judge was deliberating the points of law that could determine the fate of the Obama administration's six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling. Outside, Lucy Lailhengue was marching up and down Poydras Street with a sign that offered a more blunt line of reasoning: "If you support the moratorium, stop using oil and gas!" Lailhengue, 52, says she can smell the spilled oil in the gulf from her home in suburban Chalmette, and she worries about the crude despoiling nearby wetlands.

In an effort to curb interest in opening topless bars in the city, council members this week imposed a 45-day moratorium on permits for such establishments. The action was taken after city staff reported renewed interest in such businesses. Before the moratorium is lifted, the council will be asked to adopt an ordinance regulating adult-business permits.