As we have frequently noted, though City Hall ranks Santa Monica’s  diversity as one of its principal and most cherished assets, it has  simultaneously created a whichy thicket of rules and regulations that require mindless conformity.

For instance, the City code limits  temporary window signage to less than 20 percent of the “total frontage glass area” during only two, 30-day periods in any calendar year.

According to a story in the Santa Monica Daily Press, Vidiots
has received notice that if it doesn’t remove its window paintings by May 1, it will be fined $250 initially. If it remains out of compliance, it will be subject to further, unspecified penalties.

As anyone who’s been here for any length of time should know, Vidiots is a unique and invaluable community resource. For 24 years, it has not only rented films – tapes in the beginning,  DVDs now, but staged programs with filmmakers, and featured books on film. It preceded Blockbusters by years, was founded and is owned by two local women. and they and their staff know a great about film.

Vidiots should be celebrated, not penalized.

The window paintings, by assistant manager and artist Patrick McGilligan, are inspired by films, and have been a Vidiots feature for 10 years. They aren’t signs, they are paintings – art, not commerce.

According to the Daily Press, “Vidiots was one of the many businesses that were monitored during a recent sweep by City Hall’s Code Enforcement Division, which has been conducting proactive check-ups on businesses periodically on the major thoroughfares, including Wilshire and Pico boulevards, focusing on compliance with the sign ordinance…

“’The city has a long standing sign ordinance that helps protect against visual clutter,’ Jack Leonard, the building official with City Hall, said. ” ‘It ensures the quality of life for the citizens…

” ‘Santa Monica is not Las Vegas…(residents) are really concerned about their community and we listen.”

What’s wrong with this latest City misadventure? EVERYTHING.

First, as we previously noted, Vidiots’ window paintings are not “signage.”
Nor  do they meet any definition of   “visual clutter,” and Vidiots materially improves our quality of life.

Second, the ordinance specifies no more than 20 percent of the window glass may be painted, no more than two months in any calendar year. What’s the source of these rather stingy and arbitrary specs?

Third, the City itself has done more to Vegasize Santa Monica than Vidiots has or will ever do. Taken together or separately, Leonard’s comments in defense of the City’s  action against Vidiots are remarkably crude, and indefensible.

Further, to suggest that the Code Enforcement people are out there  battling to save Santa Monica from the   barbarians is as disturbing as it is inaccurate.

There are major code violators  out there every day—contractors who routinely violate rules. Though the City spent months on the “noise ordinance,” based on calls we get regularly, apparently it spends little  or no time enforcing it. And, of course. there are many actual signs that violate the sign ordinance but are  still in place.

Code Enforcement is now an entire  Division, but apparently it still prefers    to ignore  major violators, the big guys in the hard hats, and focus on, say,  hedges and  small stores’ window paintings..