Sign of the times

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- While the bulk of the city’s code enforcement efforts

has been directed at keeping homes maintained, officers have also been

methodically inspecting the city’s businesses.

In response to new property maintenance codes in August, code

enforcement officers began a sweep of the Westside in December.

Seven full-time officers have worked to ensure that homes are

complying with the codes while three part-time officers have focused on

businesses, said Sandi Benson, chief of code enforcement for the city.

Most businesses have been voluntarily working to meet the city’s

property maintenance codes, she said, but a few have taken a stand

against one code that prohibits signs from covering more than 10% of a

business’ windows.

“A lot of people aren’t interested in removing the signs because they

feel they give them exposure, but most people cooperate,” Benson said.

The Ticket Shack, a Newport Boulevard shop that sells concert tickets,

and Noise Noise Noise, an independent record shop on Mesa Verde Drive

East, are two businesses that have not cleared their windows.

At a City Council meeting last week, Ken Oberlin, owner of The Ticket

Shack, said his business would close if the signs come down.

“I get 80% of my business from people who see those signs,” he said.

“I can’t put my merchandise on display like the Gap can. It’s the only

way to let people know what I’m selling.”

Noise Noise Noise took down its posters when it received a violation

notice -- a warning -- on Feb. 26, but two weeks ago replaced the posters

with old punk fliers, said David James, owner of the store.

“The ordinance does not include handbills, and we figure punk fliers

are handbills,” he said. “We also could say they are an art form because

they are all 10 to 15 years old. They are not current shows. This is like

a museum exhibit.”

Among the punk fliers are pages of a highlighted copy of the sign

ordinance and, together, the 8.5-by-11-inch sheets of paper completely

cover the west window.

Benson said she has asked for an attorney’s opinion on whether the

fliers in the window are acceptable.

James said his window signs were great advertising, part of the

character of the store and protected the records from sun damage.

“We’ve had posters up for 10 years, and we think we should be

grandfathered in,” he said. “But I think allowing only a percentage of

windows to be covered is lame. In Wahoo’s [Fish Tacos], for instance, the

stickers are part of the character. Is it really going to ruin Costa Mesa

to let people have character?

“We had posters that were tasteful, fit the style of our store and

didn’t offend the neighbors. When we took everything down because we

didn’t want to get a ticket, people thought we were out of business. This

is what you want an independent record store to look like: individual,

not like a Wherehouse or a Blockbuster.”

But not everyone agrees with James.

Wahoo’s Fish Tacos on Bristol Avenue has taken off its stickers and

scrapes new ones off every two months, said Ed Lee, director of forward

planning for Lamkone Restaurants Inc., owner of the restaurant.

“I understand what they’re trying to do because they don’t want city

windows covered with sales signs,” he said. “It does bum out a lot of

business, but it maintains a nice visual for people driving by if there

isn’t ‘30% off’ and ‘50% off’ signs taking up big window space. Wahoo’s

is different because customers put up the stickers and it is not

advertising, so it is not affecting business. But the stickers did make

it fun and give it a casual feel, which is how Wahoo’s got its

reputation.”

The sign ordinance, adopted in 1995 and last revised in 1999, is not

one of the property maintenance codes, but Benson said the department

included window signs as part of its inspection because of a change in

the city’s priorities.

“Window signage was not one of the highest priorities at the time [the

ordinance] was adopted,” she said. “Now our priorities have changed.

There has been concern about how the community looks, and we have tried

to follow through with the council’s desire to make the city as clean and

nice looking as we can.”

A new revision to the sign ordinance allowing up to 20% of windows to

be covered has been proposed, but the City Council isn’t scheduled to

review it for another six months.

In the meantime, the code enforcement department has no choice but to

continue to enforce the 10% ordinance, Benson said.

Bill Turpit, secretary for the Latino Business Council, said he has

seen improvement along 19th Street as a result of voluntary compliance

with the codes.

“It seems that the stores that are the most visually unappealing have

very high percentages of their windows covered, but I have driven by The

Ticket Shack for years and never thought it was a problem,” he said. “It

seems like one rule to apply to everyone is going to be very difficult

because there are so many different types of business.”

Ed Fawcett, Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive, said

the 10% limit creates a hardship for some small businesses that have no

other means of advertising.

“It will be interesting to see what solutions we can come up with in

the next six months,” he said. “I’m hopeful that we will be able to come

up with solutions that will help those with situations like The Ticket

Shack.”