Merchants Heeded : L.A. Relents on Encino Sign Curbs

The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday moved to suspend enforcement of a section of the city’s new sign-control law that Encino merchants complained exposed them to criminal penalties for painting signs in their store windows without a permit.

The council voted 11 to 0 to lift, at least through the holiday season, the requirement for merchants to get a city permit to put up temporary window signs.

The action was requested by Councilman Marvin Braude, who had been heavily criticized by shopkeepers on Ventura Boulevard in the Encino part of his district for pushing for enforcement of the new sign restrictions there.

Encino had been singled out for enforcement because city officials wanted to see how the law worked there before enforcing it citywide. Braude and homeowner groups had been vocal critics of “visual pollution.”

Merchants’ Objections

Braude told the council Wednesday that many shopkeepers want to put up Christmas sale signs in their windows but object to having to go to the Building and Safety Department office in Van Nuys, stand in line for two hours and pay $31.50 to get a city permit.

Failure to obtain a permit is a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum six months in jail and $1,000 fine.

Councilman Hal Bernson said during Wednesday’s council discussion that he had heard from many of the same angry merchants as Braude. “For them to have to come in for a permit every time they want to put a temporary sign in their window is absolutely ridiculous,” Bernson said.

Wednesday’s action, which requires another council vote, would temporarily relieve store owners of the requirement to take out permits for temporary signs that are put up for 60 days or less.

Businesses would still be restricted by the law from putting up signs on more than 25% of their store windows.

Braude said that temporarily lifting the permit requirement will give the council’s Building and Safety Committee, which he chairs, time to study whether the requirement should be eliminated permanently.

Lawyer Alan Insul, president-elect of the Encino Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber is “extremely pleased” with Braude’s action.