Ordinances

It's an evening tradition at Corona del Mar State Beach: At first, families descend on the 30 fire rings in the sand with bundles of wood, camping chairs and blankets, marshmallows and hot dogs. Then, as night falls, crowds of young people huddle around the glow of raging bonfires. When 10 p.m. hits, the police roll in to move them along. But that tradition could soon go up in smoke. Fed up with the late-night partying, smoke and mess left behind, Newport Beach officials may extinguish its dozens of fire pits once and for all. Councilwoman Nancy Gardner, who is spearheading the effort, said the nighttime scene at the fire pits at Big Corona, as the beach is known, has gotten out of control, with revelers burning huge nail-studded pallets and leaving hot coals in the sand.

Los Angeles has made slow but significant progress toward ending homelessness, but the City Council is about to vote on a proposed law that could stop that momentum in its tracks. The Community Care Facilities Ordinance would threaten the well-being of thousands of people with disabilities, create a nightmare for property owners, cost taxpayers more, violate principles of fair housing and jeopardize access to federal funds. The proposed ordinance grew out of an effort to eliminate sober-living homes in residential neighborhoods.

What started as a community debate over how many horses were too many for Orange Park Acres residents apparently turned into a potential countywide cap of eight per acre Wednesday as the Orange County Planning Commission voted to tighten restrictions on horse keeping in unincorporated areas.

Joining a growing number of municipalities, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday adopted a "responsible banking" ordinance that will require banks doing business with the city to disclose detailed data on loans and foreclosure activity by community. Much of the information is already reported under federal law but can be hard to find in voluminous federal banking reports, said Miguel Santana, city administrative officer. The new law would bring the information together on a city website that the public could search by census tract, he said.

On the afternoon of April 24, Ryan Price walked out of her mother-in-law's Santa Ana home to her car. What happened next would launch Price into a three-month legal tiff involving her family, City Hall and the 1st Amendment. Attached to the windshield wiper of her silver 2000 Acura Integra was a traffic ticket. Price looked up and down the residential street in bafflement -- she had not parked near a stop sign, a fire hydrant or in a red zone.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to adopt a comprehensive medical marijuana ordinance that clamps strict controls on dispensaries, which have spread with a velocity that stunned city officials and angered some residents. Settling the last controversial issue on its list, the council decided to require the stores to locate at least 1,000 feet from so-called sensitive uses, such as schools, parks, libraries and other dispensaries. The decision to reject a 500-foot setback reflected the council's intent to write the most restrictive rules that would still allow dispensaries.

Librarians in San Luis Obispo County have long had a policy of politely asking guests with offensive body odor to leave. Now a new ordinance makes that policy a law. "The point is to make [the library] a comfortable, safe place for everyone to use," said Moe McGee, assistant director of the San Luis Obispo City-County Library. The prohibition against offensive body odor is part of a list of banned activities that was implemented by librarians in 1994.

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Friday to make it illegal to urinate or defecate in public, a step many said was necessary to curb a growing problem of human waste on city streets. Some advocates for the homeless were outraged.

Dare to buy red roses or a newspaper from a street vendor, and soon you could be breaking the law. At least in Oakland Park, Fla. Citing traffic safety concerns, officials in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of 42,000 tentatively approved an ordinance targeting not only panhandlers and peddlers, but the people who give to them or buy something from them. Under the ordinance initially passed last month, anyone who responds to a beggar with money or any "article of value" or buys flowers or a newspaper from someone on the street would face a fine of $50 to $100 and as many as 90 days in jail.

Amid criticism that Los Angeles building officials lack firm policies on expediting construction projects, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday proposed a change in the law to better define which projects should be fast-tracked and which should have fees waived. In a letter to City Atty.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to seek a speed limit for skateboarders and penalize them for failing to follow a range of traffic rules, from stopping at stop signs to yielding to pedestrians. On a 12 to 0 vote, the council instructed City Atty. Carmen Trutanich to draft an ordinance that would prohibit "unsafe" skateboard activity and limit riders to a speed of 25 mph. The proposal was initiated by Councilman Joe Buscaino, who described it as a response to the death of two skateboarders over the last year.

Simi Valley is a quiet suburban community and wants to keep it that way: No lights, no cameras, no porn studios. Not that adult-film producers are flocking over the hill from the porn-rich San Fernando Valley, but the fear is that they might. Angered by a recent L.A. requirement for on-set condom use, producers have made noises about leaving, and officials next door in Simi Valley are trying to thwart an invasion before it gets started. "The bottom line is we don't want to be known as the porn capital of the world," said Mayor Bob Huber, who is pushing for a local condom measure similar to one the L.A. City Council approved in January.

Hundreds of Burbank residents who have yet to comply with a city ordinance that requires them to remove their wood roofs were given some breathing room last week, 20 years after the law was enacted. Homeowners with exposed wood roofs will probably now have two more years to change them. A "roof-over" — a wood shingle or shake roof covered by another type of roofing material — will get an eight-year reprieve. The extensions, coming just months before a 20-year-old August deadline for the replacements, are expected to be finalized by the City Council in the coming weeks.

Los Angeles County supervisors approved an ordinance Tuesday that requires new developments to have wider sidewalks, bicycle parking and other changes to promote exercise and reduce obesity. The ordinance also would make it easier for communities to start community gardens and hold farmers markets. "We are excited," said Susan Tae, the county's supervising regional planner. "This is the first step to address the healthier-built environment at the countywide level. " The ordinance, which affects unincorporated areas of the county, expands sidewalk widths to five feet, requires bicycle parking within developments and increases shade on sidewalks.

Calabasas officials say they plan to flush a controversial septic tank inspection program this week after a two-year battle with residents living in the affluent city's rural outskirts. Citing widespread financial and emotional grief, City Council members say they will vote Wednesday to rescind rules that targeted owners of hillside houses with backyard septic systems. The city will instead abide by new and simpler state rules that are due to be adopted this summer. "My own personal preference is to be rid of this and take this onerous thing and throw it in the trash where it should have been in the first place," Mayor James Bozajian said about the city's septic policy.

An ordinance intended to keep motor homes from parking overnight in Santa Monica is being applied to an unlikely culprit: a van used to ferry elderly residents of an assisted-living facility to and from appointments and activities. The van, operated by Sunrise Senior Living, has typically parked without incident in front of the center on 15th Street between Arizona Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard.

Hundreds of protesters and counterprotesters assembled in Riverside in response to an attempt to crack down on illegal immigration. Protesters argued against a township ordinance adopted last month that bans the hiring and housing of people who cannot verify they are legal residents. A larger group massed to support the new law. The ordinance penalizes landlords and employers who house or hire illegal immigrants.

County Supervisor Frank Schillo withdrew from the board's agenda Tuesday his proposed ordinance to outlaw spray paint used by graffiti vandals. Schillo would only say there was a scheduling problem. The Thousand Oaks-based supervisor has led an 18-month effort to ban the sale of paint sold in aerosol cans until a yet-to-be-developed anti-graffiti container can replace them.

Streams of Silly String, flying tortillas and long lines at the ladies' rooms during past parades have inspired a unique set of laws that govern Monday's Rose Parade and other special events in Pasadena. City ordinances address everything from construction of grandstand seating and the sale of parade programs to acts of political protest. Under a 1992 ordinance, disrupting or impeding a parade can land a person a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail. FULL COVERAGE: 2012 Rose Parade "There were legitimate safety concerns.

The white neon clock at the park couldn't be missed. It was 10:03 p.m. At the northeast entrance to Lincoln Park in Long Beach, a handful of people were on the move. Some were dragging a blue tarp from the grass to the sidewalk along Pacific Avenue while others were folding chairs. Nearby, sleeping bags were laid out, side by side, on the concrete. This is the nightly ritual for Occupy Long Beach. Unlike other demonstrators across the country, the three dozen or so Long Beach loyalists leave the ground they've staked as protest central by 10 p.m. to avoid violating a city ordinance that prohibits overnight camping in parks.