Ocean Front Walk Ordinance Still Being Debated
There is no ordinance regulating the west
side of Ocean Front Walk. The old ordinance was thrown out by the Los Angeles
City Council as the result of a lawsuit brought by ACLU Attorney Carol Sobel on
behalf of Venice vendors and activists, including Food not Bombs.
At a court hearing last month, the judge told the
city to draft a new ordinance that does not conflict with the U.S.
Constitution.
The draft ordinance under
consideration (LAMC 42.15) would divide the OFW into two sections, a P-Zone, for
free speech activities, and an I-Zone, for
vending.
According to the draft, the
I-Zone would allow vending, as
follows:
Any person may vend the
following items: expressive items which have been created, written or composed
by the person, or are inextricably intertwined with the message of the person
vending the items. Such items may include, but are not limited to, books,
cassettes tapes, compact discs, video digital discs, paintings, photographs and
sculptures. For purposes of this paragraph, expressive items shall be
deemed to have been created by the vendor only if they have been predominantly
authored, performed, recorded, filmed, or otherwise made or assembled by the
vendor.
The
draft ordinance may be read at www.freevenice.org.
Posted: Tue - January 1, 2008 at 03:51 PM
