Artesia Council Sets Outdoor Display Guidelines; Ponders Party for College-Bound Seniors

Artesia’s City Council approved a set of ordinances during its March meeting last Monday that would regulate and institute permits for business outdoor displays.

Some of the provisions of one the new ordinances include that outdoor displays:

• must not be higher than six feet
• must have all transactions made indoors
• must be cleared nightly

“There must be a direct connection to what’s sold inside the store,” said William Kelly, who was hired by the city of Artesia as a consultant to the ordinance. “It’s basically meant for non-consumable materials such as dresses, pots and pans.”

He said that restaurants selling food outside are governed under Los Angeles County health laws.

In addition to the provisions for outdoor displays, the city will institute an encroachment permit for businesses that wish to have them should they put them on sidewalks and the city will set fees at a later date.

Celebration for Artesia College-Bound High School Seniors

The city will seek implementation plans for a May celebration for graduating high school seniors from Artesia who have been admitted into four-year universities thanks to a vote by the Council.

Councilman Miguel Canales, a teacher at , had pushed for the event as a way for the city to honor these accomplished students and was willing to foot the food part of the bill for the party.

“As a Council, we would give a formal presentation to our [high school] seniors graduating and going on to a four-year university,” he said. “That to me is a great investment of pride for our future and those individuals.”

However, Mayor Pro Tem Sally Flowers initially had misgivings about the event due to the uncertainty of the city budget and wanted to wait for the city manager’s budget update and that other students who did not get accepted to four-year universities or who cannot afford it would be shut out.

“Once [Sacramento] took the Redevelopment money away, we don’t know where we are, we don’t know it’s going to affect the city,” she said. “I think it’s a wonderful thing, I just thought we were waiting for the budget [update].”

Canales responded to Flowers by stating that he did not think that such a celebration would dent city finances.

Councilman Victor Manalo suggested that the Council hold the idea until the budget report is released in April, but Canales said that the students would need to be notified of the event and that the Council should move ahead and make the “investment” possible.