Monterey Park : Study of Sign Rules Urged
Concerned about commercial business signs that emphasize Chinese characters rather than English lettering, Councilman Barry L. Hatch has asked Acting City Manager David Bentz to study the sign ordinances of neighboring San Gabriel Valley communities.
“I’m not happy with the present situation on signs,” Hatch said this week. “I don’t know what legally we can do.”
But he said city officials should consider new approaches that might make businesses improve the readability of their signs.
Some signs, Hatch said, do not clearly spell out in English what services or merchandise a business provides. Other signs, whether foreign-language or not, are hard to read, he added.
Two years ago, shortly before Hatch was elected to the council, Monterey Park changed its sign ordinance in response to similar concerns. Although the current ordinance does not prohibit signs in foreign languages, it does require businesses to post signs in English describing the nature of the business.
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