Planners Kill English-Only Sign Proposal
The Planning Commission has unanimously agreed to kill a proposed sign ordinance that would have required 75% of all business signs in the city to be written in English. The action came less than two months after commissioners heard from local businessmen opposed to the proposal.
“I think they felt the pressure,” said Jose Pacheco, director of the Bellflower-Paramount chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “I’m glad they decided to drop it. It was a bad ordinance.”
At the commission’s Feb. 17 meeting, about a dozen Latino businessmen and representatives from LULAC and from the American Civil Liberties Union spoke out against the proposal, prompting the commission to delay action on the ordinance.
The Planning Department staff had been meeting with representatives from the county Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department and Department of Building and Safety to determine how crucial English-only signs would be in an emergency, according to Planning Director Lee Whitenberg.
That information was filed, according to a Planning Department report that recommended no further action be taken on the proposal.
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