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City’s Solicitation Ordinance to Go Before Council
posted: March 19th, 2010 07:05 am |
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The Newport Beach City Council will take a look at revised solicitation rules at its meeting scheduled for Tuesday night.
The new rules, which will not be voted on until an April meeting, will set up a Do Not Solicit registry that residents can sign up for on the city’s website. That list, which will include addresses but not names, will be provided to commercial solicitors when they apply for a registration card. Residents who don’t have Internet access will be able to sign up at City Hall, and all residents will need to update this information every year, according to a staff report.
The Police Department has agreed to enforce the new registry, the report states.
City Councilwoman Nancy Gardner asked for even stricter restrictions after receiving complaints and having her own run-in with an aggressive solicitor last fall. But her hopes to shorten solicitors’ hours were dashed when research showed that court decisions have upheld solicitors’ First Amendment rights to ring bells until 9 p.m.
Residents who don’t want solicitors should post a “No Solicitors” sign near their front door, as well as sign up for the No Solicitors registry. Also, if you don’t want handbills on your car, you need to put a “No Handbills” or similar sign in your vehicle because a city ban would go against recent court decisions, the staff report states.
The staff report also says that if these measures don’t work, the City Council will take another look at a future meeting.
To help residents, the Corona del Mar Residents Association voted this week to distribute a limited number of “No Solicitors” signs at its annual Town Meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. April 15 at Sherman Library & Gardens.
Read the complete staff report here. Read our earlier stories here and here.
