Tough-guy Trutanich

For years, here’s how things worked in Los Angeles: A gunslinger -- or rather, a billboard-slinger or medical marijuana-slinger -- would ride into town, inquire about the local laws, chuckle, and proceed to build or erect or open whatever he wanted. City officials would shake their fingers and wring their hands and sheepishly request that the offending sign or dispensary or whatever be removed. The slinger would sue, the city would settle, a City Council member or other politician would end up with a “thanks for being so understanding” donation, and the next thing anyone knew, there would be an agreement to permit more offending signs or structures or businesses. It was the Wild West. The rule of law was replaced by swagger, courtroom shootouts and deal-making.

Carmen Trutanich was appealing as a city attorney candidate because it was clear he recognized that City Hall culture of lawlessness for what it was and vowed to do something to change it.

That’s what he appears to be doing. He deserves two hearty cheers for cracking down on illegal supergraphics by jailing a man who wrapped a Hollywood Boulevard landmark in a huge, obnoxious, ugly and unsafe advertisement. Kayvan Setareh spent a weekend in jail on $1-million bail for thumbing his nose at city safety, inspection and permitting laws and bolting the huge sign to a 1920s building, over windows and exits and above a major pedestrian thoroughfare. Bail was reduced and Setareh released when he agreed to remove the sign. The next outlaw may, perhaps, think twice before illegally wrapping a building with a supergraphic.

So why only two cheers, instead of the customary three? Because of the nagging concern that in the name of law and order, Trutanich may turn out to be a bit of a gunslinger himself, dispensing punishment out of all proportion to the crime. A weekend in jail pending an appearance and bail hearing before a magistrate isn’t out of the ordinary. But $1-million bail for a public safety and permitting misdemeanor is a bit steep. A Wild West town like Los Angeles requires toughness and resolve, but also a sense of evenhanded justice. The goal is respect for and equal treatment under the law, not substituting one brand of contempt for another.

That third cheer is waiting for Trutanich, but he’ll have to earn it over the coming weeks and months, as medical marijuana purveyors challenge the city’s dispensary law and as shootouts continue over billboards. He’ll deserve the thanks of a grateful town if he defeats the outlaws, but even more important than winning is instilling a new expectation that land use and permitting laws are fair, appropriate, enforceable -- and enforced.