San Fernando Ca Ordinances

Vehicles should not be considered lawn art, the city of San Fernando says. Moving to crack down on residents who park vehicles on unpaved surfaces in residential areas, the City Council recently proposed an ordinance making it illegal to park in yards. "It's just not attractive to have vehicles parked on the lawn," said Howard Miura, director of the city's Community Development Department.

Saying they want to improve the economic conditions of the city's working poor, San Fernando City Council members have adopted a living wage ordinance. Local elected officials, legislators and union leaders will formally announce adoption of the measure at 8:30 a.m. today during a news conference at City Hall, 117 Macneil St. Under the ordinance, city employees and contract workers would earn an initial rate of $7.25 per hour with health benefits or $8.50 per hour without.

San Fernando took an unprecedented--and critics say unconstitutional--step Monday by banning gang members from a public park that has been the scene of gang violence. The San Fernando City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve an ordinance calling for police to compile a list of gang members and give them written notices that they have been banned from Las Palmas Park, a small park in west San Fernando.

The City Council gave final approval Monday night to an ordinance that prohibits outdoor alcohol and tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of residential areas, schools, parks, playgrounds and anywhere children might gather. Last year, Los Angeles passed a similar ordinance. Both laws will take effect Oct. 1. In Los Angeles, the law received final approval last September.

Neighbors of a San Fernando park said Tuesday they were dismayed to learn that the ACLU has filed suit to nullify a city ban on gang members using the park. "These people who filed the lawsuit should try living here for a while--then they'll get the picture," said Ruben, who lives about a block from the park. "It probably is denying gangbangers their rights and that's a shame," said Ruben, who like many park neighbors would not give his full name for fear of gang retribution.

Local firearms dealers would be required to tighten their security arrangements or risk losing their licenses under a proposed ordinance that will be introduced at Monday's City Council meeting by Mayor Raul Godinez II. If it passes, the ordinance would require firearms dealers in San Fernando to comply with a state law governing the storage of commercial firearms that currently only applies to cities with more than 50,000 residents.

The San Fernando City Council gave unanimous preliminary approval to an ordinance that would restrict alcohol and tobacco advertising in the city. The ordinance would ban outdoor advertising of alcohol and tobacco within 1,000 feet of residential areas, schools, parks, playgrounds and places of worship. The ordinance will next go to the city's Planning Commission in early April. If the commission passes it, the City Council must then give it final approval.

A controversial ordinance banning gang members from a San Fernando park where a woman and her three small children were wounded by gunfire a year ago has been allowed to expire because city officials say it is no longer necessary. The ordinance banning known gang members from Las Palmas Park ran out at the end of June, San Fernando City Administrator Mary Strenn said.

The City Council adopted an ordinance this week that prohibits outdoor alcohol and tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of residential areas, schools, parks, playgrounds and anywhere children might gather. The ordinance, which is expected to receive final approval at the May 3 City Council meeting, will take effect on Oct. 1, officials said.

In a rare compromise on a highly contentious issue, the City Council voted unanimously Monday to adopt into law an informal policy allowing administrators to provide extensions to residents who are having a hard time paying their water bills. Both council members Joanne Baltierrez and Doude Wysbeek had opposed the ordinance because it exempted city employees from the same benefit as other residents. They changed their votes when that provision was dropped.

The San Fernando City Council gave unanimous preliminary approval to an ordinance that would restrict alcohol and tobacco advertising in the city. The ordinance would ban outdoor advertising of alcohol and tobacco within 1,000 feet of residential areas, schools, parks, playgrounds and places of worship. The ordinance will next go to the city's Planning Commission in early April. If the commission passes it, the City Council must then give it final approval.

About 50 people are expected to attend the City Council meeting tonight to call for new measures that would abolish self-service cigarette machines and limit outdoor and storefront alcohol and tobacco ads. The Tobacco Education, Action and Mobilization Collaborative will ask city officials to adopt an ordinance restricting outdoor advertising of alcohol and tobacco similar to the one adopted in September by the Los Angeles City Council.

Seeking to more swiftly punish businesses that sell alcohol without a city permit, the San Fernando City Council debated a proposed resolution that would allow city officials to charge business owners with a misdemeanor after the first offense. Currently, businesses must be cited with three infractions of the city code before a misdemeanor charge can be filed.

The City Council this week postponed a scheduled vote on a zoning amendment that would increase penalties on illegal liquor sales in order to make the amendment even tougher, officials said. The code amendment, which was recommended last month by the city Planning Commission, was aimed at small markets and other businesses that sell alcohol without valid city permits.

In a move that one member said will "add teeth" to efforts to crack down on illegal alcohol sales, the San Fernando Planning Commission this week approved a provision making it easier for the city to prosecute rogue establishments. In a 4-0 vote, with one member abstaining, the commission increased the penalties for businesses that continue to sell alcohol after their conditional-use permits have been revoked or suspended.

In a rare compromise on a highly contentious issue, the City Council voted unanimously Monday to adopt into law an informal policy allowing administrators to provide extensions to residents who are having a hard time paying their water bills. Both council members Joanne Baltierrez and Doude Wysbeek had opposed the ordinance because it exempted city employees from the same benefit as other residents. They changed their votes when that provision was dropped.

An agreement approved unanimously by the City Council will give refunds to each subscriber of TCI Cablevision of the east San Fernando Valley. The city's Information Technology Agency negotiated an agreement with the cable firm that will provide customers with refunds of $5.38 apiece while setting the basic service rate at $9.97.

If small-town governing is sometimes a quirky business--with the local police chief acting as mayor, or a law on the books mandating church attendance--San Fernando has a favorite quirk of its own: 5,920 landlords overseeing its old police station. In most American cities, officials manage city property. Here, the voters are the keepers of 120 MacNeil St. And they manage by election. Needless and costly elections, say critics.

The owners of a popular restaurant and entertainment center said they plan to move their business out of San Fernando after the City Council voted 3 to 2 Monday to accept an appeal by anti-alcohol activists denying them a permit to sell beer and wine. Yakov Ergas, part-owner of the Big Red pizza parlor and children's video arcade at 1245 San Fernando Road, said that without the permit--which had been granted by the city Planning Commission in December--he will not be able to stay in business.