Southeast : City Seeks Leaflet-Free Zone

Huntington Park officials may soon unveil a new weapon in the battle against leaflet litter.

For nearly a decade, city officials have tried to put an end to the distribution of pamphlets along Pacific Boulevard, Huntington Park’s main commercial strip. Too often, they say, the leaflets end up on the sidewalk.

But the 1st Amendment has hindered them every time they have tried to crack down on advertisers who print the handbills. But City Atty. Steven Skolnik has a plan. He is using police statistics on the illegal sale of false documents to support a proposed ordinance that would prohibit strictly commercial leaflets within a 10-square-block area surrounding the boulevard.

Henry Gray, who has worked with Skolnik on the ordinance, pointed to a recent sting operation in which police arrested 10 pamphleteers and charged them with soliciting false identification documents. He said businesses that pay people to distribute their handbills usually are unaware of the document solicitation, which is often carried out silently with hand signals.