Council Plans to Cut Silly String

With no debate, the Los Angeles City Council on Friday unanimously asked the city attorney to prepare an ordinance to ban silly string from Hollywood on Halloween, answering calls from the police, businesses and residents to save them from the colorful strings of compressed foam.

Councilman Tom LaBonge, whose district includes part of Hollywood, had pushed for a citywide ban on the popular plaything, which police officers contend can spark violence between partygoers spraying one another.

LaBonge has said he was particularly concerned that the non-biodegradable foam, sold under various brand names, was getting into storm drains and harming marine life.

But Friday, LaBonge scaled back his campaign, choosing instead to push for a more limited one-day ban in the Police Department’s Hollywood Division. Hollywood’s other councilman, Eric Garcetti, had proposed that approach, before LaBonge and Councilman Greig Smith broadened it.

“I continue to think that if it’s bad for fish on Oct. 31, it’s bad for fish on the other 364 days of the year,” LaBonge said after the council approved the limited ban.

But the councilman said he was concerned that a debate about a citywide ban could drag on and on, and he said he wanted to ensure that Hollywood would be safe from silly string this Halloween.

“I plan to keep studying the issue,” LaBonge said.

The city attorney’s office will now prepare an ordinance, which the council would have to vote on before the string is stricken from Hollywood.

Hollywood Entertainment District Executive Director Kerry Morrison applauded Friday’s vote, though the business leader said she wouldn’t celebrate until the ordinance was passed.

“We have miles to go before we sleep,” she said.

Several other communities, including Santa Clarita and New Orleans, already have restrictions against the use of silly string.