WHAT:
Press conference to announce the enforcement of a new ordinance, passed by City Council to ban Silly String in Hollywood on Halloween night.

WHEN:
Friday, October 29, 2004
10:00 a.m.

WHERE:
Hollywood & Highland MTA Portal
Park at Hollywood & Highland

Los Angeles: For the past eight years, Hollywood Boulevard has struggled with what may seem like a "silly" problem. Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn recently signed a council-backed ordinance (LAMC Section 56.02) to ban Silly String in Hollywood on Halloween night. The ordinance was introduced and championed by Los Angeles City Council members for Hollywood, Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge in direct response to the requests of Hollywood Boulevard property owners. The ordinance calls for a maximum $1000 fine and/or six months in jail for use, possession, sale or distribution of Silly String in Hollywood from 12:01 a.m. on October 31 to 12:00 p.m. on November 1.

On a typical Halloween night, up to 100,000 people come to Hollywood Boulevard in search of something to do. Given the lack of a formal event, hundreds of illegal vendors flock to the street and sell Silly String which then becomes the sole source of entertainment for the night.

Loa Angeles City personnel are deployed from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), Department of Transportation, Bureau of Street Services and Department of Sanitation to protect and clean up the Silly String "event." The financial costs to the city are detrimental as they exceed $200,000 for this one night.

This Halloween, the LAPD in cooperation with the LAFD, the Bureau of Street Services and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept., will combine efforts to create a unified enforcement front. Individuals, businesses and/or vendors possessing or selling Silly String on public or private property in Hollywood will be given the option to voluntarily discard the product or face a maximum $1000 fine and/or six months in jail.

This news advisory was prepared by Media Relations Section, at 213-485-3586.