YORBA LINDA : He Should Have Let Bad Enough Alone

City Councilman Mark Schwing had hoped for a way to get rid of pesky sales representatives ringing his doorbell at dinner time. But his efforts backfired when the city attorney found that Yorba Linda’s current ordinance already gives the City Council too much authority in controlling door-to-door solicitors.

Last month, Schwing asked the city attorney whether Yorba Linda could put tighter restrictions on traveling salesmen, religious proselytizers and people soliciting donations.

But in researching the ordinance and related Supreme Court decisions, acting City Atty. Dan Slater found that the ordinance gives the council too much power in granting solicitation permits.

“The current Yorba Linda solicitor permit process is . . . overbroad,” Slater said in his report. “The procedure . . . vests too much discretion in the City Council to (deny) the permit.”

Last week, Slater recommended that he draft a new ordinance eliminating a requirement for a public hearing. He also suggested turning the entire process into an administrative function not requiring council approval on each permit.

Schwing made a motion to kill Slater’s recommendation, but the motion failed. Instead, the council voted 3 to 2, with Schwing and Henry Wedaa voting in opposition, to authorize Slater to draft a new ordinance.