Re “When a Ban Only Seems to Work”

Eight months after the Ballona Creek Renaissance proposed an ambitious plan to safeguard environment from choking shards of styrofoam, the City Council is scheduled to nod affirmatively Tuesday evening at 7 o’clock to an ordinance banning polystyrene in Culver City restaurants.

Implementation and enforcement remain months away – mid-summer perhaps.

Entering the final month of his one-year term in the mayor’s chair, Jim Clarke is confident the passage plan will hum along smoothly.

The fireworks have been set off and cleaned up.

Arguments have been made.

Refinements have been inserted into the original and most desirable language.

“We are pretty much there,” Mr. Clarke said. “There might be a tweak in some wording. Basically, though, all the folks are on-board for this first reading.”

Passage will come at a May meeting of the City Council, and enactment would be official 30 days later.

The most fascinating dangling detail is a six-month grace period for businesses to comply.

When Mr. Clarke lately suggested an amendment that was resisted then passed, critics charged he was trying to torpedo the coming ordinance. He swiftly denied it.

Mr. Clarke’s amendment says that a list will be drawn up annually of alternative material for restaurants who find replacements unavailable or cost-prohibitive.

The list will be submitted to the City Council for approval.