City Council Tuesday tasked the City Attorney’s office to amend the municpial code regarding ice cream truck businesses to restrict the playing of amplified music while they are stopped and vending ice cream to customers.
6th District Councilmember Dee Andrews proposed the amendment, citing concerns and complaints brought to him by his constituents that ice cream trucks circle the blocks often and blare amplified music, often disturbing residents in their homes. Several neighborhood groups within Andrews’ district submitted formal letters in support of the agenda item and asked that ice cream trucks operating within city limits be forced to abide by the noise ordinance.
During public discussion Tuesday night, the question of enforcement was brought up along with concerns that the Long Beach Police Department would be unable to catch violating trucks in the act. But because the amendment is being made to the business regulation section of the municpial code, enforcement falls upon the business licensing wing of the city, not law enforcement.
Similar to how other business violations are reported, residents would be able to capture video proof and submit a complaint on the offending ice cream truck. If a truck receives multiple complaints against it, the City can take away its business license, rendering it inoperable in Long Beach.
Despite the specific targeting of ice cream trucks, other councilmembers noted concerns of non-ice cream truck noise nuisances needing regulation including everyday vehicles creating noise disturbances, pedestrians with radios and other currently unrecognized violators. All agreed that restrictions for those should be considered in the future.
Now that the Council has asked City Attorney to amend the municipal code, the city must report back in 30 days with the changes to be made and another round of public comments will be taken on the issue.
Eds. note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the council voted to amend the noise ordinance to include ice cream trucks when in fact it is the municpial code that regulates ice cream truck businesses that will be amended to include a provision that they abide by the noise ordinance when parked. The previous version also incorrectly described enforcement of the amendmendment as resting on police, when it falls under business licensing. The Post regrets the errors.
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