Long Beach to Propose Stricter Enforcement of Noise Curfew Ordinance

Finding a great place to live can be a balancing act. It can be next to impossible to find a good building with affordable rent in a popular area. People often have to commute to work in order to find their dream home or sacrifice some of the items on their wish list and settle for something less than ideal. Living near an airport, for example, has both positive and negative aspects. Prices for homes in the area tend to be much lower than those further away, but residents have to deal with increased traffic and greater noise issues. Even with noise curfew rules, some airlines find ways to get around it. However, according to Hugo Martin's L.A. Times article, the Long Beach Airport has proposed a crackdown on noise violators in order to address some of the more blatant rule-breakers.

In response to excessive noise issues over the years, the City of Long Beach has a Community Noise Ordinance that makes it illegal for people to make loud noises that affect residents or visitors during certain time periods. Some examples include leaf blowers, construction equipment, and amplified music. Mainly, the ordinance addresses repeat offenders with disruptive behavior above certain limited standards. One such standard is that for the airlines operating out of the Long Beach airport. The airlines have a limited "noise budget" that they have to stay under or they will be fined.

While many of the airlines have followed the rules of the Noise Ordinance, some of the busier airlines have chosen to prioritize their business over the wants of the community. JetBlue has been the most flagrant offender this year, with over 94 violations in the five-month period at the beginning of 2017. Delta AirLines and SkyWest, next in line, have a combined total of only 3 violations. JetBlue claims that its disruption of the noise levels between 10 PM and 7 AM throughout the year was due to delays at busier airports on the East Coast and in Northern California. They claim that the noise was unintentional and are working with the city to solve the problem.

When the ordinance was enacted in 1995, it set the fines for first-time offenders at $100 and set the fine at $300 for any airline breaking the rules more than three times. While these fines may have once been a deterrent to some airlines, it makes more financial sense for JetBlue to operate as many flights as possible, and just pay any fines they may incur. In response to that, city officials are looking into updating the fines on the ordinance to thousands of dollars per transgression, with the option to terminate an airline's ability to operate out of the airport if the airline accumulates more than 20 citations in a two-year period. It will still take some time to get the proposal before the city council, but it is expected that they will vote on it in the early months of 2018.

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Proposed Changes by LA City Council to Expedite Permitting for Small Businesses

Small businesses in Los Angeles have, for a long while, been facing many difficulties in getting started. Local and city-wide ordinances make it a very long and expensive process to open a new business, especially a restaurant or similar establishment. The main complaint among those trying to get their foot in the door is that they are required to work with and submit paperwork to various departments within the city government that don't necessarily work closely together. In several instances, an aspiring business owner worked with one department for a while to get their plans approved, only to find out from another department that their plans will be rejected due to insufficient parking. Fortunately, according to Amy Edelen's L.A. Times article, members of the Los Angeles City Council are looking to introduce a new plan to make the process faster and easier for all parties involved.

Even for restaurants that already exist, the renewal of a conditional use permit, which is required to get a liquor license, can take a year, between actually submitting the documentation and waiting for it to be approved. Councilman Mitch O'Farrell has taken the first steps toward speeding up the process, by proposing a plan that would create a new department in the city government designed specifically to deal with small businesses and create that connection between all of the other departments. O'Farrell believes that the new department will be beneficial because it will allow new business owners to sit down with a representative of City Hall and spend just a few minutes planning out a checklist of all of their requirements and an approximate timeline.

Too many potential business owners have been forced to give up before ever opening. Small businesses contribute greatly to the economy, so if the process isn't improved, more potential employees will be laid off and new jobs will become much harder to find. Even renewing a permit can be a tiresome and costly process, especially in areas where rent is high. If the permit takes a while to be approved, the business owner is forced to pay rent for months when the business isn't open or making any money. While representatives from the Department of Building and Safety claim that the permitting process isn't nearly as long as people complain, others claim that the delays are due to the convoluted nature of the various departments. With O'Farrell's plan, at least some of that confusion should be resolved, which should help to speed things along.

Even if a business already existed on the property, if the business changes from an office space to a retail establishment, under current regulations, a "change of use" is triggered. That means that the entire process of starting a business has to go back to the beginning as if the original business had never existed. While most of the complaints about the process are related to new restaurants, analysts hope that the new rules will help all small businesses to get their start. O'Farrell believes that the initiative will make the process more straightforward, and as long as it is approved by the City Council, the changes are expected to begin by the end of the year. As O'Farrell said, "Behind every empty storefront, there's a story." Hopefully, the City Council will approve his plan and help make those stories into realities.

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Find out more about us at www.sepulvedaescrow.net. Any Questions? Contact our Escrow Expert! Sepulveda Escrow Corporation (818) 838-1831. Follow our company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

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