Mayor Backs Away from New Laws on Paparazzi

• Council OKs Task Force Link on Web

BY ANNE SOBLE

Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich’s solo volunteer campaign to try to control paparazzi activity in Malibu—above and beyond the more than 50 local and state laws that already curb miscreant behavior—culminated in an announcement to city council colleagues that she “is not recommending the city draft new ordinances at this time.”
Her suggestion that the city create a formal paparazzi ad hoc committee, as noted in her written report on the agenda, did not come up at Monday night’s meeting.
Barring a local panel on the subject, Conley Ulich got approval for placing a link to the Web site of Los Angeles City Councilmember Dennis Zine’s Regional Paparazzi Task Force, a non-legislative panel that tries to publicize the celebrity-paparazzi entanglement to sometimes scoffing media coverage, on the city’s site.
The council also approved the inclusion of the one-page “Citizens Guide,” a list of laws on trespass, vehicle code citations and other violations sometimes attributed to overzealous paparazzi in the next city Parks and Recreation Guide. The complete Citizens Guide was printed in the Oct. 9 issue of the Malibu Surfside News.
City staff was asked to request that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department consult with the Beverly Hills Police Department on how it handles “hot zones,” commercial venues where paparazzi congregate. The Chamber of Commerce will also be involved in this discussion.
Of possibly greater community interest was the first public indication that Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Santa Monica College officials and Sheriff Leroy Baca are “working on shared use of the former substation location [in the Civic Center area].”
Councilmember Sharon Barovsky announced the talks after the mayor asked for support for the substation’s reopening. Barovsky said, “I think that will happen.”
Baca is openly lobbying for the local facility, but Yaroslavsky had been equally vocal in opposition.