RIORDAN BACKS BAN OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO SIGNS.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer While acknowledging the risk of prompting a First Amendment challenge, Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. signed an ordinance A law, statute, or regulation enacted by a Municipal Corporation. An ordinance is a law passed by a municipal government. A municipality, such as a city, town, village, or borough, is a political subdivision of a state within which a municipal corporation has been Thursday banning outdoor advertising of alcohol and tobacco products within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and residential neighborhoods in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . Riordan signed the ordinance a week after it was approved by the City Council, banning cigarette and alcohol advertisements on billboards and storefronts within 1,000 feet of areas where children gather. ``Today we're saying yes to children and no to the negative influences of alcohol and tobacco,'' Riordan said during the ceremony at City Hall. Alcohol, tobacco and billboard firms have threatened to challenge the ordinance in court, saying it violates their free-speech rights. ``You have to take risks,'' Riordan said. ``Our interest is to put our children first.'' The mayor said the City Attorney's Office has advised that the law would likely withstand a legal challenge, citing the court success of similar restrictions in other cities. In fact, the Los Angeles law is less restrictive than ordinances in some other cities, including San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and Chicago, which ban signs that are visible from any sidewalk A Microsoft service that was launched in 1997 to provide online arts and entertainment guides on the Web for major cities worldwide. In 1999, Microsoft sold Sidewalk to Ticketmaster, which continued to provide guides, ticketing and other information to the MSN network. and street. Riordan said the city's attorneys have warned that the city might face a successful legal challenge if it tries to ban alcohol and tobacco advertising throughout the entire city. Councilman Mike Feuer, who wrote the Los Angeles ban, said research has found that advertisements are the major factor in minors' using alcohol and tobacco. ``The advertising tactics of these industries increase the illegal use of alcohol and tobacco products by minors,'' Feuer said. ``These restrictions will help reduce the violations.'' The ordinance gives liquor stores and billboard companies a year before the ban on advertising takes effect, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Andrew Adelman, general manager of the city department of Building and Safety. He estimated that as many as 2,000 billboards in the city may be affected by the ban. A lawsuit challenging the ban is very likely, according to Rex Heinke, an attorney representing billboard companies suing the city of Oakland over a similar ordinance. ``I have little doubt there will be (a challenge),'' Heinke said, adding he is already talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to his clients about suing Los Angeles. ``It's going to be utterly ineffective,'' Heinke predicted. ``It's inconceivable that one teen-ager will stop drinking just because there isn't a billboard in his neighborhood.'' Heinke said the ordinance is censorship censorship, official prohibition or restriction of any type of expression believed to threaten the political, social, or moral order. It may be imposed by governmental authority, local or national, by a religious body, or occasionally by a powerful private group. , and he warned it starts the city on a course that theoretically could lead to bans on other products that minors are prohibited from using, including automobiles and movies rated NC-17. |
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