A summary of selected City Hall actions affecting Central Los Angeles in the past week.

CITY COUNCIL

STREET VENDING: Approved a proposal aimed at emphasizing that street vending is illegal in the city. The proposal, authored by Councilman Richard Alatorre, requires that all business tax certificates issued by the city clerk be stamped in both English and Spanish with: “Street Vending is Illegal.”

SHERATON TOWN HOUSE: Overruled the city Cultural Heritage Commission’s decision denying monument status to the Sheraton Town House on Wilshire Boulevard, and sent the issue of whether the building should be preserved to the Arts, Health and Humanities Committee for further review. The 63-year-old hotel closed last month, and its owner had started preparing to demolish it for a parking lot.

MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE: Approved a proposal to increase the maximum amount allowed under the second-mortgage assistance program to home buyers at the Santa Ana Pines development in Watts to $35,000. It had been $25,000.

HOW THEY VOTED

How South-Central and Eastside representatives voted on selected issues.

ACADEMY AWARDS: Approved a proposal to waive charges for traffic control services for the Academy Awards ceremony Monday at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but requested the academy pay the fees next year. This year’s fee were $49,693. Passed: 9-2. Voting yes: Alatorre, Joan Milke Flores, Mike Hernandez, Nate Holden, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Rita Walters.

RESTROOMS: Approved a two-month pilot program proposed by Walters to provide 24-hour access to public restrooms for the homeless in Downtown. The facilities are at the Weingart Center at 6th and San Pedro streets and the Russ Hotel at 5th and San Julian streets. Passed: 13-0. Voting yes: Alatorre, Hernandez, Flores, Holden, Ridley-Thomas and Walters.

TRAFFIC OFFICERS: Approved a proposal requesting that city officials investigate allowing organizers of special events, such as parades and marathons, to hire retired or off-duty police officers to direct traffic currently handled by city traffic control officers. Passed: 10-0. Voting yes: Alatorre, Hernandez, Flores, Holden and Ridley-Thomas. Absent: Walters.

FREEZE: Approved a policy that the council not fill vacancies among the city’s upper management ranks for the next six months. Proponents said it is necessitated by the election of a new mayor, the city’s budget crisis and a measure on the June 8 ballot to remove upper management jobs from civil service protection. Passed 10-0. Voting yes: Alatorre, Hernandez, Flores, Holden and Ridley-Thomas. Absent: Walters.