Whittier Approves Ordinance Against News Rack Porn

Seems the city of Whittier doesn’t want to get caught with its pants down.

In an effort to forestall potential lawsuits from publishers of adult material and at the same time safeguard the city’s minors against pornography, Whittier has passed legislation requiring City Hall to act expeditiously on news rack applications.

The ordinance mandates a maximum of five days for the review process and institutes a system for businesses denied permits to appeal to the city manager.

Concerned about lawsuits other cities have faced for supposedly stalling on the awarding of business permits to adult publications sold in public places, the community is looking to protect both the constitutional rights of publishers and its own standards.

“This is basically a due-process issue,” said City Manager Tom Mauk. “If someone doesn’t like a publication’s subject matter, he can’t sit on the permit application and pocket-veto it. And by having an appeals process we’ll be able to defend ourselves in court against personal judgment or arbitrariness on the staff’s behalf.”