MAYOR SAYS 'HEAD SHOP' NOT A 'MESSAGE WE WANT TO BE SENDING' IN DOWNTOWN LOMPOC

4/21 Among the comments made by Mayor Dick DeWees at Thursday's City Council
meeting was one of disapproval of a new business in town.

A "head shop" - a store that, along with other things, can sell drug
paraphernalia - that has moved in on South H Street in the downtown area of
Lompoc.

"It's not the message we want to be sending out regarding downtown and the
Old Town revitalization," said DeWees. "It's a disregard of what we are
trying to do."

Denny Anderson, executive vice president of the Lompoc Valley Chamber of
Commerce and Visitor's Bureau, said no formal positions have been taken by
the chamber, "but I don't think that this is the kind of business we want to
attract.

"I've heard comments from three or four people who are real disappointed
that it's coming in," he said.

DeWees had already asked the city attorney if something could be done about
the new business, but the counsel told him state law prohibits a city from
creating a law that forbids the sale of drug paraphernalia.

State law does make some exceptions, and DeWees said the city will make sure
the store follows the law.

While DeWees said the head shop gives a bad impression of the city, the City
Council agreed that weeds on private property also make the city look bad.

In a unanimous decision, the City Council declared all private property that
has uncontrolled weeds as a public nuisance.

The city's fire marshal has created a list of private properties that do not
comply with the annual weed abatement program. The owners of these
properties are given a notice and asked to clean the area up. If they
comply, they are removed from the list. If they do not, the city will send
someone to clean up their properties and later send a bill for
administrative fees.

In other news, the City Council made the following decisions at Tuesday
night's meeting:

City Council members approved a five-year list of projects to be funded by
the one-half cent sales tax from Measure "D." The city will receive about
$9.7 million over a five-year period. Among the projects are the Allan
Hancock bike way connector, the pedestrian enhancements for Old Town and the
River Bend Park bike way, which were all projects sent to the Santa Barbara
County Association of Governments for federal funding. If these projects are
approved by SBCAG, then the city will use Measure D funds as matching funds.
If the projects are
not approved, then the city will have to decide what to do with the rest of
the funds from Measure D.

Councilwoman Janice Keller asked the City Council to reconsider the design
of the city's logo. Keller said the logo should be something that represents
the city going into the next century. The other members of the council agreed.

Councilman Dewayne Holmdahl said the pin with the city's logo "does look
like a target on your shoulder someone could shoot at."

For now Frank Priore, the city administrator, will look into the
possibility, but the council decided it would take no action until after the
city budget is completed in June.