Law Requiring English Amended

A Torrance sign ordinance amendment that requires an English translation prominently displayed on all foreign-language signs will be applied only to new signs, city officials have decided.

As written, the amendment to the city’s sign ordinance applies to all signs, Assistant City Atty. William G. Quale said in an interview. Approved unanimously by the City Council on Jan. 26, the amendment requires that signs in foreign languages also have a version in English, and that the English words be on top and in type as large or larger than the non-English characters.

Councilman George Nakano, who proposed the amendment, said that without signs in English, it is difficult for police and firefighters to find businesses during emergencies. He said he also believes that English is the language of the United States and that business signs should reflect that.

Quale, who wrote the amendment, said the city will not rewrite the law, but the Building and Safety Department will not go after existing signs. Before the mistake was brought to city officials’ attention, the Building and Safety Department was prepared to enforce the law on all signs, said Monte McElroy, the city’s environmental quality administrator.

“Actually it was more of an oversight than a misunderstanding,” Quale said in an interview. Since the existing sign ordinance is retroactive, so are amendments to it, city officials said.

Nakano discovered the mistake when a Los Angeles Times reporter asked him if he was concerned about the financial impact of his proposal on existing businesses.

“I didn’t want to make it retroactive,” Nakano said, because of the financial burden it would impose.

Had the mistake not been noticed, owners of existing foreign-language signs that violate the new amendment would have had six months to replace or modify the signs or face a penalty of up to $500 and six months in jail, said McElroy.