This is a story about the evil sofa.
Well, not quite. But a redraft of a proposed law before the City Council could subject antique stores and used book stores to the same strict regulations currently being considered for topless bars, peep shows and massage parlors.
Which means a Victorian-era divan in the window of a neighborhood antique store might be facing the scrutiny of the vice squad.
It sounds like a joke, but Scott Kessler isn’t laughing. As the executive director of the Adams Avenue Business Association, he warns the pro-posed law could have a chilling effect on small business.
As a representative of about 30 used book stores and antique dealers on Adams Avenue and adjacent streets, Kessler is urging the city to delay implementation of the redrafted law, or to change the language. The council is scheduled to discuss the matter Oct. 23.
Currently, the police , specifically the vice squad , regulates businesses that are traditionally associated with vice activities, such as pornographic book stores, adult entertainment, liquor stores and so forth. The problem is that many legitimate businesses are also affected, Kessler said.
“There’s another set of businesses that fall under police-regulated (categories) . That would be our antique dealers, because they’re a resale shop and there might be a potential that they’re fencing stolen property, for instance. Used book stores are police-regulated,” he said.
Background Checks
Anyone going into business as an antique dealer or used-book seller already gives up some of his rights from day one, Kessler said.
“It means all the owners are subject to background checks,” he said. “In some respects, they waive their Fourth Amendment rights when they apply for the license. They’re basically subject to search and seizure without warrant.”
This might make sense when regulating a vice-laden business for which police have probable cause. But the stores in his neighborhood are all legitimate mom-and-pop shops, Kessler said.
Putting respectable businesses under the jurisdiction of the vice squad creates additional problems, Kessler said. Since vice officers deal with serious criminals every day, they acquire a certain degree of tunnel vision that renders them less sympathetic to the legitimate businesses they deal with, he said.
Now, as the police are looking to expand regulations on adult-oriented businesses, legitimate police-regulated businesses will also come under added scrutiny, he warned.
More Regulations
Kessler sees this as a power grab by the police. He noted the authorities recently attempted to impose additional regulations on coffee houses.
John Flores, co-owner of Newport Avenue Antiques in Ocean Beach, agreed. He finds it ironic the police target him, while drug trafficking and prostitution is going on unchecked just down the street.
“I’m a hard-working, tax-paying business owner and I felt like I was being treated like a criminal,” he said.
Code compliance officers have entered his store in what he described as a “very threatening stance.” On one occasion, a woman officer demanded to speak to Flores immediately even though he was working with another customer, he said.
Also, under the law, Flores must account for every item in his store , to almost ridiculous extremes.
“They need inventories of, for example, if we have a plastic cup, we need to say where that cup came from , just in case we stole it. I’m not going to steal a plastic cup! It’s just ridiculous,” he said.
Flores is frustrated by these regulations, adding they have nothing to do with protecting the innocent and everything to do with collecting more money from taxpayers, he said.
The redraft of the ordinance is coming under some scrutiny of its own. Mike McGlinn, a lawyer representing several business improvement districts throughout San Diego, has been analyzing the proposed ordinance and how it would affect small businesses.
‘Very Concerned’
“There are different groups that are very, very concerned about what suddenly appears to be a move to greatly expand the scope of police regulation of businesses,” he said.
McGlinn has a number of problems with the ordinance before the city. For one thing, police-regulated businesses have to apply for a police permit every year.
If, for whatever reason, the permit is not renewed, the venture is out of business. And a store’s employees and customers come under scrutiny as well, McGlinn said.
Even a misdemeanor conviction could conceivably lead to the permit being revoked, he added.
On top of that, having to apply for a new permit every year can become expensive. Store owners must also reapply over a change in ownership, meaning added bureaucracy in case a couple divorces or tries to pass the business on to their children, McGlinn said.
The clock is ticking, he said. The City Council is trying to ram the ordinance through without much public input, he said.
‘Pushed Too Fast’
“Things are being pushed much too fast,” he said. “When the business owners really get to see these ordinances and get to examine them, they’re going to be shocked.”
But to Patty Margetts, the issue is not so simple. As a police code compliance officer for the city, she said there are 650 second-hand dealers in the city of San Diego, allowing people to walk in off the street and sell their property.
Of these stores, 50 are pawn brokers. The rest are either antique dealers, or stores that deal in used sporting goods, used computers and such. The majority of the cases involving receiving stolen property involve antique stores and other stores dealing in used merchandise , not the pawn shops, Margetts said.
Margetts declined to state exact numbers, preferring not to discuss specific cases.
Also, there are 37 different categories of businesses that are regulated by the police , including auto dismantlers, bingo games, burglar alarm dealers and car painters, she said.
Each specific business is investigated by separate police code compliance officers under the auspices of the vice administration. And many of these are also subject to regulation under state law, Margetts said.
The state’s Business and Professional Code regulates second-hand dealers, which sell tangible personal property , items that might have a serial number, or can easily be traced. These businesses must apply for both a state and local permit, she said.
Junk dealers , purveyors of used clothing, used books and used furniture , are exempt from needing a state license, but must carry a local police permit, Margetts said.
As to questions of excessive zeal by the police, Margetts declined to discuss the specifics of any of the cases.
