Arcadia : City Wins News Rack Suit

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of the city of Arcadia in a lawsuit brought by Paul and Eunice Duffy, owners of Kimbo Distributors, who placed double-deck news racks throughout the city in violation of a code requirement limiting the height of news racks to four feet.

The city had been under a preliminary injunction forbidding it to enforce the height limit pending the outcome of the suit. City Atty. Michael Miller said there are 165 news racks in Arcadia and that the long-standing ordinance is important because of the city’s emphasis on community appearance and aesthetics. Judge Norman Dowds also upheld the city’s right to regulate appearance in terms of color and dimension of news racks. Don Cook, attorney for the Duffys, said the decision would be applealed.