T.O. TAKING ON ROLE OF TOUGH GUY; COUNCIL TO DECIDE ON TIGHTER RESTRICTIONS ON MOVIE CREWS.Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer Filming crews like the nice houses and suburban ambience am·bi·ence n. Variant of ambiance. ambience or ambiance Noun the atmosphere of a place Noun 1. of North Ranch ranch, large farm devoted chiefly to raising and breeding cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The cattle ranch was introduced from Latin America to Texas and the plains of the W United States and Canada. , but residents can't say they feel the same way about the production crews invading in·vade v. in·vad·ed, in·vad·ing, in·vades v.tr. 1. To enter by force in order to conquer or pillage. 2. their neighborhoods. Ringing car alarms, car-clogged streets and nighttime disturbances have prompted some Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. residents to ask the City Council for relief from Hollywood. ``There have been some complaints, mainly in the North Ranch area,'' said Stacy Minasian, a senior management analyst with the city. The City Council will consider tonight whether to require a filming permit for all production and to restrict filming to three consecutive days at any one location, no more than twice a year. Currently, the city requires a filming permit only if the production interferes with streets, sidewalks or neighbors. ``It goes in spurts,'' said Robert Sweeting Robert Percival Sweeting OBE is a Bahamian politician, and was a MP (Member of Parliament) in the Bahamas Parliament, representing the South Abaco Constituency, from 2002 until 2007. He did not run in the May 2007 general election. , a traffic engineering technician Description An engineering technician is a person who has relatively practical understanding of the general theoretical principles of the specific branch of engineering in which they work. Engineering technicians solve technical problems. with the city who processes film permit requests for Thousand Oaks. ``It seems to be very slightly increased.'' Generally, residents are receptive receptive /re·cep·tive/ (re-cep´tiv) capable of receiving or of responding to a stimulus. to film crews on their streets, he said. ``I've had places where we've got 100 percent compliance,'' Sweeting sweet·ing n. 1. A sweet apple. 2. Archaic Sweetheart. said. ``We have five or six houses on a cul-de-sac and none of them have a problem with it.'' On the other hand, ``one person was just adamant that they didn't want to be disturbed,'' Sweeting said. The new 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 would discourage filming in residential areas and would restrict filming times to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. When filming in residential areas, crews would need written permission from any property owner within 500 feet. The city also plans to charge a daily fee of $50 to film in residential areas, $200 a day for private property and $300 for city property. Crews also must come up with parking plans and must provide insurance. The council also will debate whether to raise the fees it charges for crews who film at the Civic Arts Plaza. Many companies want to use the lobbies and surrounding area of the building, rather than the theaters themselves, said Tom Mitze, the city's theaters director. For example, crews for the Fox television show ``Party of Five'' have filmed twice in town, turning the second-floor lobby of the Charles E. Probst Center for the Performing Arts into an art gallery, and transforming space between the theater and City Hall into a 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 BART substation, Mitze said. Currently, the city charges $3,600 a day to film in the Probst and $800 to film in the Forum Theatre. The proposed increase would raise the rental fees to $5,000 to film in Probst and $2,500 to film in the Forum. The $2,500 fee also would apply to crews filming in the theaters' lobbies and anywhere else on Civic Arts Plaza grounds. City officials don't think that the higher rental rates will discourage crews from coming to Thousand Oaks, because the fees represent such a small amount of productions' overall budgets. ``We're probably going to be on the competitive side,'' Minasian said. Once the council officially votes on the new fees and rules, the Civic Arts Plaza will mail an informational packet to various location scouts, Mitze said. The site remains popular for a variety of reasons, he said. ``One of the things that attracts them is that this is an unusual-looking building,'' Mitze said. Other Hollywood types discover the Civic Arts Plaza only after attending a show there. ``We've had location scouts stop by to take photos because they had been to a performance,'' Mitze said. Thousand Oaks' diversity is what attracts productions to all areas of the city, Minasian said. ``People in film need so many different types of houses and types of streets,'' she said. ``Variety is something they like.'' Others suggest that Thousand Oaks is so popular with Hollywood because so many members of the entertainment community live nearby. The Screen Actors Guild has roughly 5,200 of its 90,000 members nationwide living in the Thousand Oaks area, based on the organization's latest mailing list An automated e-mail system on the Internet, which is maintained by subject matter. There are thousands of such lists that reach millions of individuals and businesses. New users generally subscribe by sending an e-mail with the word "subscribe" in it and subsequently receive all new . |
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