When Making a Film Becomes a Reel Traffic Problem

Dear Street Smart:

Although I live in Orange County, my question actually involves streets in Los Angeles County.

One recent Friday night while returning home from Central L.A., I was greatly inconvenienced by the closure of Hill Street at 5th Street due to movie-making going on there. The next day, the Terminal Island Freeway was similarly closed due to movie-making.

My question is this: Who owns the public streets? Who gives permission for a private, money-making enterprise to deny the public use of public streets? This seems very odd to me.

I might add that the blockage of 5th and Hill aggravated the already congested problems there due to present subway construction. Terrible planning and timing!

Frank W. Ellis

Los Alamitos

What price making movies? Like it or not, the glitter and glamour of Hollywood still has a hold on Southern California in general and Los Angeles in particular. And that grip extends down to the city streets, which TV film crews and movie makers regularly use as a backdrop for everything from “LA Law” to the latest slasher flick.

While the road closures may be a bit irksome, city officials in Los Angeles reason that the public inconvenience is worth it to ensure that the city remains a hospitable place for film work. Movie making is a non-polluting industry and acts as perhaps the best public relations tool a city could enjoy, they argue. Many municipalities across the country are making inroads on that action, a fact that only increases the zeal in Los Angeles to provide incentives to keep the cameras close to home.

So city streets and highways get shut down while some wannabe Woody Allen practices his craft. To regulate all the activity, the city has a motion picture coordination office.

Mei Ong, assistant director of the coordination office, said each film maker has to pay a $123 fee to apply for a street closure, provide proof of $1 million in insurance coverage and hire off-duty police officers to shepherd the stalled multitudes. If explosives or other special effects are involved, a Fire Department permit must be obtained.

The office bases permit decisions on the road closure’s impact on traffic, whether motorists will have to be rerouted into residential neighborhoods and other factors.

Often, movie makers require only a short closure of less than three minutes. Such brief interruptions in traffic are typically approved by the director of the motion picture coordination office.

A full shut-down of a street, however, invariably goes before the city’s Board of Public Works, which is made up of five commissioners appointed by the mayor. Each year, the city has about 200 road closures of more than three minutes because of TV or movie filming, Ong said.

She stressed that the office pushes for movie makers to conduct their work only at times when traffic is light. Rush-hour film making is generally forbidden and major thoroughfares can be used only late at night. For instance, the office is currently studying a request from Paramount Pictures to close a stretch of Grand Avenue for five straight nights between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Dear Street Smart:

I have a wonderful 1976 Toyota still running like a charm. But the registration tag on my license plate that shows the month has long ago faded into oblivion. Is there any way that people can replenish these tags? Does it matter?

Pat Matzke

Huntington Beach

Like a lot of things in life, it’ll probably only matter if you get caught.

Failure to have registration tags affixed to your license plate is illegal, according to Gary Quinliven of the state Department of Motor Vehicles in Sacramento. And though it is typically not a law officer’s most pressing traffic enforcement priority, many will gladly lasso a motorist for flaunting this automotive responsibility.

If caught, motorists can typically avoid penalties if they provide proof of proper registration. But the best policy is to avoid the folks in the black and whites by keeping the tags up to snuff--even the one on the left side of the license plate that shows the month you bought your car.

To replace a tag that has been lost or scuffed off, a motorist simply has to head into the nearest Department of Motor Vehicles office. Armed with the vehicle registration card, you can pick up a new tag for free, Quinliven said.

In recent weeks, a couple of motorists have called or written The Times to complain that the DMV has failed to sent them their updated registration tags. A motorist should contact his or her local DMV office to inquire if the tag has been sent. If the local motor vehicle gurus don’t provide help, call or write the DMV in Sacramento.