Paramount : Drug-Sales Sites Targeted
The City Council has tentatively approved an ordinance allowing the city to declare a public nuisance property where illegal drugs are being used or sold.
The ordinance, which received unanimous approval from the five-member council, gives the council the authority to take whatever action is necessary, including boarding up or tearing down the building or confiscating the property, to abate the problem.
The ordinance is similar to one passed in May, 1985, in Compton to deal with the problem of “rock” houses, where cocaine in rock form is sold. Paramount needed an ordinance because of a “significant increase in drug-related arrests” in the city over the past three years, according to a staff report.
A second reading of the ordinance is scheduled for Nov. 4. If final approval is given, the ordinance will take effect 30 days later.
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