Curtain to Fall on Old Movie House Law
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It has remained on Oxnard’s city code book for nearly 50 years, regulating movie projection room operators long after the job had largely been automated.
But in a general move to repeal several arcane regulations, the City Council is expected tonight to wipe off the books its ordinance on motion picture projection room operators.
No longer will the operators have to appear before an examining board consisting of the city’s fire chief, electrical inspector and another unspecified person. No longer will operators have to pay $5 to get a required license--which, by the way, cannot be issued to anyone under 17 or anyone who is “an habitual user of alcoholic liquor or narcotic drugs.”
But according to City Atty. Gary Gillig, removing the regulation is no big deal.
“It’s unenforceable and invalid in today’s world,” Gillig said. “I don’t even know if there are such things as motion picture operators anymore. I think it’s done by computer. We haven’t enforced it for years.”
Gillig said the city placed the ordinance on its books sometime before 1948.
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