Illegal to sell door to door in LA City

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Hi,
Did you know that it is illegal in the City of Los Angeles to sell door-to-door. This was posted today:
Door-to-Door Magazine Solicitors in the area of Topanga Division

Topanga Division is receiving complaints of persons going door-to-door soliciting magazines. It is now illegal to sale(sic) magazine subscriptions, periodical or other publication, or the sale of any tangible personal property door-to-door for delivery at a subsequent time in the City of Los Angeles. (42.19 LAMC)

Due to this activity also being consistent with door knock burglars we are asking the public to report your observations to (877) ASK-LAPD/ (877) 275-5273.

Address/Location
LAPD – Topanga Station
Schoenborn St
Canoga Park, CA 91304

Here is the actual “law”:

SEC. 42.00. REGULATION OF SOLICITING AND SALES IN STREETS.

(a) (Amended by Ord. No. 145,691, Eff. 5/2/74.) In this section, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires:

“News racks” shall mean any self-service or coin-operated box, container, storage unit or other dispenser installed, used, or maintained for the display and sale of newspapers, news periodicals or other news publications.

“Newsstand” shall mean any stand, shelter, case, cabinet, box or other structure installed, used, or maintained for the display, sale or storage of newspapers, news periodicals or other news publications which is attended by the owner or his employee while making sales therefrom.

“Street” shall mean all that area dedicated to public use for public street purposes and shall include, but not be limited to roadways, parkways, alleys and sidewalks.

“Roadway” shall mean that portion of a street improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.

“Parkway” shall mean that area between the edge of the roadway and the adjacent property line excluding that area occupied by the sidewalks. Parkway shall also include any area within a roadway which is not open to vehicular travel.

“Sidewalk” shall mean any surface provided for the exclusive use of pedestrians.

(b) Street Sale of Goods Prohibited. (Amended by Ord. No. 169,319, Eff. 2/18/94.) No person, except as otherwise permitted by this section, shall on any sidewalk or street offer for sale, solicit the sale of, announce by any means the availability of, or have in his or her possession, control or custody, whether upon his or her person or upon some other animate or inanimate object, any goods, wares or merchandise which the public may purchase at any time. This subsection shall not apply to the sale of poppies, badges and labels as defined by Military and Veterans Code Section 1800 on a parkway or sidewalk by persons bearing a valid information card issued pursuant to Article 4 of this chapter authorizing such person to do so.

(c) Street-Soliciting Employment of Services Prohibited. (Amended by Ord. No. 145,691, Eff. 5/2/74.)

(1) No person, except as otherwise permitted by this section, shall on any street offer for sale, solicit the employment of, or announce by any means the availability of, any goods, wares, merchandise, services or facilities, or solicit patrons for or advertise any show, exhibition, entertainment, tour, excursion, sight-seeing trip, or real estate viewing or inspection trip. (Amended by Ord. No. 169,319, Eff. 2/18/94.)

(2) No person who is visible or audible to any person on any street shall, in a loud, boisterous, raucous, offensive or insulting manner, offer for sale, solicit the purchase of, announce the availability of, or solicit the employment of any goods, wares, merchandise, services or facilities, or solicit patronage for or advertise any show, exhibition, entertainment tour, excursion sight-seeing trip, real estate, or oil well viewing or inspection trip.

(3) Nothing in Paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be so construed as to apply to a sight-seeing tour operating under and by virtue of a permit from and regulations of the Public Utilities Commission of the State of California and for which tour a fixed charge is made to the person carried.

The best advice is just do not answer your door if you are not expecting someone. Those “peep-holes” are really a great investment esepcially if a potential burgalar knocks first, there is no answer and then tries to come in the back. You can keep an eye on them and if you see them not “leaving” call 911 immediately!
Thanks,
Susan

Holiday Protection from the Naughty & not Nice

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I ran across this article about Holiday Scams “Holiday Shopping Scams to Look Out For” (make sure you read the part on gift cards) that got me thinking that though the holidays are to be a joyous time, it can bring out the worst in people, especially those that prey on the innocent. How do we protect ourselves from those that steal what we worked so hard for? We need to “Be Aware and Pay Attention!”

Rules of the Season:

  1. Where am I? Pay attention to where you park. Remember what level, aisle and parking slot. Sounds dumb, but how many times have we been in a hurry and forgotten, well, to remember. It is also a good idea to park near a lighted area.
  2. Take all those valuables out of your car before you leave home. Thieves walk through the rows of cars seeing what goodies you have left for them. They are in and out of your car in seconds. Have you heard of the back seat bandits stealing the third row out of SUV’s? If you have any way of leaving that home, do it.
  3. Those bad guys also lurk about seeing what is being placed in the car or the car’s trunk. You walk away to continue shopping and they help themselves. This is especially prevalent at high end electronic store parking lots. Look around to make sure you are not being watched before “hiding” your items in your car.
  4. Carry your purse and packages on the parked car side while walking to or from your car. Thieves have been known to drive by and grab these items right off of the pedestrians.
  5. Always hold on to your purse. Do not put it in your cart or on the counter without your hand on it. Men, put your wallets in your front pocket, or at least wrap a couple rubber bands around it so a pick pocket has a harder time “lifting it.”
  6. If you select a gift card right from the rack, you should know thieves copy or use portable scanners that can read the codes under the scratch-off strips. Then they replace the cards and check toll-free numbers later to see if the cards were activated and for how much. Before your niece can spend the card you gave her, they beat her to it, using the card’s number for purchases. Instead, try to purchase gift cards from a store’s customer service counter or website, rather than the less secure display racks.(from AARP-Read the whole article HERE)
  7. If you get an email claiming that a courier service or the U.S. Postal Service has a package for you; don’t click on those links. It could take you to a site with malware. Also, a postcard might arrive about an “undeliverable” package with a phone number to call. Look up the number to FedEx, or UPS or USPS yourself.. If you call the number on the postcard, it may be an expensive overseas call, with the scammer getting part of what you pay. (from AARP-Read the whole article HERE.)
  8. When purchasing online, ALWAYS make certain the website address says “httpS” not the unsafe and unsecured http. The “S” stands for secure. All reputable ecommerce sites use a secure server. Also make certain that you are really on the correct website, check its spelling. Scam sites register a domain name with a slight misspelling and then trick consummers onto their site. You could either make a purchase that never arrives or infect your computer with malware. Of course, now they have your credit card number, expiration and security code. OUCH.

Welcome to North Valley LA!

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This website is to help the citizens of what is known as the North Valley portion of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles City (and County) have easy access to important information regarding their government, city services and community resources. As we grow and expand, our hope is to have the interaction of the community so this website transforms into a daily touchstone for all that is happening in our neighborhoods-from important news to great “happenings”.