Council Forecasts Fortunetellers' Future; Avoids Family Feud

By Jorge Casuso

With one councilman peering into a magic 8 ball, the City Council Tuesday night expanded the future of the city's fortunetellers.

Facing a legal challenge to an ordinance restricting fortune telling to the pier, the council voted unanimously to add a section of Beach Front Walk, but nixed a staff recommendation to add the Third Street Promenade as well.

The council passed the measure in order to clearly comply with a 1985 California Supreme Court ruling that held that fortune telling is a constitutionally protected activity and that it is illegal for a city to completely ban the art of divination.

No fortunetellers showed up to testify, prompting Councilman Kevin McKeown to joke that "that's because they know how it will turn out."

The votes were cast after Councilman Richard Bloom consulted his magic 8 ball.

"I would like the record to show that using a magic 8 ball is not prohibited by this ordinance," Mayor Ken Genser said.

In a separate action, the council averted a family feud when it voted 6 to 1 to appoint Phyllis Green, an artist and teacher, to the Arts Commission.

Last month the council deadlocked 3 to 3 over the nominations of Jean Anne Holbrook, who is married to Councilman Robert Holbrook, and Harriet Beck, Mayor Genser's sister. At Tuesday's meeting Holbrook cast the vote for his wife. Beck was not nominated.

The council also voted unanimously to reappoint architect Howard Laks, who designed the Lobster, and Sergio Zeballos, who designed SaMoshel, to the Architectural Review Board.

The council also voted unanimously to prohibit the use of Chess Park and Muscle Beach between sunset and sunrise and amended the City's Utility Users Tax to clarify collection responsibilities in a highly competitive market.

The amendments to the tax - which is the city's single largest source of ongoing revenue -- do not increase the rate or expand the existing tax base.