Council Halts Move to Curb Garage Sales

The City Council took to heart the popular bumper sticker slogan, “I brake for yard sales,” on Tuesday when a move to drastically curb garage, patio and yard sales came to a screeching halt.

The measure introduced by Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Hal Bernson will be sent back to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, where alternatives to the strict restrictions proposed will be explored.

The motion would have limited sale hours to between 8 a.m. and sundown, and the number of sale days to two per week, three days maximum during a six-month period. Because the motion is aimed at cracking down on perennial yard sales--rather than the occasional dabbler in the used-stuff business--the measure was seen as too stringent and nearly unenforceable.

Among those who will be affected by the yard sale restrictions would have been people like Shelley Evans of Topanga, who runs a used-book sale every day on the corner of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Cheney Drive, up the road from her trailer.

“Isn’t free enterprise the backbone of this country?” asked the 52-year-old woman, who supports herself solely on the $20 to $30 she earns each day from her book sales.

With her dog, Tailwagger, at her side and a pack of cigarettes to pass the time, Evans has sold used books at the corner for the past six months. Supplied to her by a neighbor who shares the profits, she sells the hardcover books for about a $1 each, and paperbacks and children’s books for 25 or 50 cents.

Evans said she began her book sale after she lost her Postal Service job. Because she was a part-time employee, Evans did not have health insurance. So, when she fell ill with a rare, polio-like virus, she spent her entire savings on hospital bills and could not get her job back after her long absence.

“I understand how the neighbors feel . . . with their $500,000 homes,” said Evans, who will be moving at the end of the month because some Topanga residents complained to her landlord.

“I guess it looks kind of funky at the corner like this,” said Evans, looking over her boxes of cookbooks, reference books and novels.