Unincorporated Areas

It took Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies a minute longer to respond to emergency calls from unincorporated parts of the county than from cities that contract with the department for police services, according to a county audit. The finding comes days after Supervisor Gloria Molina accused Sheriff Lee Baca of "stealing" police resources from residents in unincorporated neighborhoods and threatened to hire "independent private patrol cars" to backfill cuts in sheriff's patrols.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to implement a new tracking system for Sheriff's Department patrols in unincorporated areas and also gave $22 million to the department in hopes of improving service in those communities. Under the new system, money spent on patrols in unincorporated areas will be tracked separately from that spent on patrols in the 42 cities that contract for Sheriff's Department services. Earlier this year, Supervisor Gloria Molina accused Sheriff Lee Baca of "stealing" police resources from residents in unincorporated neighborhoods.

Worried that unincorporated Los Angeles County could increasingly be favored by medical marijuana dispensaries excluded from other areas, Supervisor Mike Antonovich on Tuesday proposed a ban on the outlets, which would reverse a four-year-old county policy. Aides to Antonovich noted that many cities in the county have banned dispensaries or imposed moratoriums and the city of Los Angeles is trying to shut down about 400. The supervisor's office has received at least a dozen inquiries from Los Angeles dispensaries looking to move to the county.

It took Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies a minute longer to respond to emergency calls from unincorporated parts of the county than from cities that contract with the department for police services, according to a county audit. The finding comes days after Supervisor Gloria Molina accused Sheriff Lee Baca of "stealing" police resources from residents in unincorporated neighborhoods and threatened to hire "independent private patrol cars" to backfill cuts in sheriff's patrols.

Acting on fears that a state proposition could make it difficult to raise local taxes after Nov. 6, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to enact a first-ever license tax for businesses in unincorporated areas. The new tax will cost each business, regardless of size, a flat rate of $100, plus $5 per full-time employee and $2.50 per part-time employee. However, Supervisor Brian Bilbray said the fee is certain to be reduced before the end of the year.

Cityhood will be a hot issue in 1998 for towns and neighborhoods around Orange County that remain unincorporated. Some, like Rossmoor, will be resisting moves to give up unincorporated status, an increasingly difficult situation with shrinking tax revenues and fewer dollars to support the rising costs of city services. Others, like many South County areas, will be arguing not over whether to incorporate, but how.

Every time their tax bills arrive, homeowners in the county's unincorporated areas shell out money for such services as fire protection, flood control and mosquito abatement--some seven fees in all. By fall, they may have to cough up an additional fee for parks. The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation is quietly exploring the feasibility of making up an $8.5-million budget shortfall by taxing homeowners at least $10 per household. Parks Director Rodney E.

Teenagers in the county's unincorporated areas will have an extra hour before a nighttime curfew kicks in, according to revisions approved this week by the Board of Supervisors. The ordinance changed the curfew's starting time from 10 to 11 p.m. The change reflects a recent court decision in San Diego County where a curfew law was successfully challenged. A judge there agreed that 10 p.m. was too early to start requiring juveniles to be at home.

Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett on Tuesday again questioned law enforcement funding decisions, asking Sheriff Bob Brooks to consider putting more patrols back on the streets in unincorporated areas. Bennett asked why the sheriff was using state funds targeted for unincorporated communities to offset salaries for two crime lab workers. The money, about $143,000, might be better spent putting at least one sheriff's deputy on patrol, the board chairman said.

Saying violence follows gun sales, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky called Tuesday for a ban on "Saturday night specials" and other easily concealable weapons in unincorporated areas of the county. The proposal, modeled on the city of Los Angeles ordinance, would also prohibit federally licensed gun dealers from selling firearms in any neighborhood zoned as a residential area, including sales from homes or cars.

To hear Utah authorities tell it, Andrew Marlin Curtis wanted to crash a wedding. Instead, he crashed a pilfered truck in the parking lot of a Salt Lake City-area church. And now he's behind bars. Police in Midvale, a suburb of Salt Lake City, say the 30-year-old Curtis stole a truck last week while trying to stop a former girlfriend's wedding. He was charged on Thursday with unauthorized control of a vehicle for an extended time, a third-degree felony. “Stealing a car to stop a wedding?

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday said Sheriff Lee Baca's suspension of deputy overtime has dramatically reduced patrol operations and jeopardized public safety. In a contentious meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Baca was attacked for ignoring the needs of unincorporated parts of the county in favor of cities that contract with his department for police services. They said his overtime cuts were disproportionately affecting unincorporated neighborhoods. Supervisor Gloria Molina went so far as to accuse Baca of "stealing" police resources from residents in those areas.

West Hollywood has become the latest in a string of California cities - including Santa Monica, Long Beach and Pasadena - to ban single-use plastic bags at store checkout lines. The City Council adopted an ordinance Monday night prohibiting hundreds of pharmacies and grocery and retail stores - including clothing stores and newsstands - in the 1.9-square-mile city from distributing the bags. The ordinance was approved as part of the council's consent calendar, along with routine items.

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.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has scheduled a hearing to consider steps the county can take to address concerns about the 1-800-GET-THIN advertising for Lap-Band surgery. Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky said they wanted to direct county lawyers to study whether the county could take steps to ensure "truthful advertising" on billboards within unincorporated areas that would comply with 1st Amendment free speech guarantees. They've also asked their colleagues on the board to ask county health officials to launch a public awareness campaign about ways for people to maintain healthy weight, without surgery.

Riverside County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to ban registered sex offenders from putting up Halloween decorations or handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. The measure takes effect immediately. The state attorney general's office lists 2,584 registered sex offenders residing in Riverside County, but the ban applies only to sex offenders in unincorporated areas. County officials said their records show that there are 3,491 registered sex offenders. Registered sex offenders will now be banned from answering the door to trick-or-treaters or putting Halloween decorations on their homes between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 31 each year.

In most ways, the residents of affluent Hacienda Heights have little in common with the largely working-class community of South Whittier or struggling East Compton. But in one important way, they're connected by more than a maze of surface streets. Those three communities, and many other enclaves throughout vast Los Angeles County, lie in a bureaucratic no-man's-land. Unincorporated Los Angeles County, they call it. Areas, some only a few blocks long, that are not part of any city.

Banished to special sections in restaurants or to chilly back steps at the office, smokers are the target of proposed regulations in Orange County that call for a ban on puffing in eateries, private businesses and retail stores in unincorporated areas of the county. The ban, to be considered Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors, would also eliminate all tobacco sales from vending machines by early next year.

Supervisors in Los Angeles and Orange counties moved in sync Tuesday to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated territories. The bans, affecting an area with 1.5 million people in L.A. County and 120,000 in Orange County, were approved in 4-1 votes in both counties. "Attracting crime and other nuisances, these facilities have a negative impact on the communities where they've operated ? leading more than 100 cities and nine counties in California to pass similar ordinances," said Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who wrote L.A. County's provision.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to ban plastic grocery bags in areas of the county under its jurisdiction, endorsing a broadly worded measure that proponents hope could become a model for California. The ban, which goes beyond ordinances adopted in Malibu and San Francisco, most directly affects 1.1 million people who live outside the county's incorporated cities. But anyone shopping at stores in such areas would encounter the new rules. Opponents suggested they might go to court to try to block the ban before the first phase takes effect in July, when 67 large supermarkets and pharmacies must stop providing disposable plastic bags.