> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # City zoning commission outlaws ‘mom & pop’ - URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-zoning-commission-outlaws-mom-pop/ - Published: 2002-04-01T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:12:24.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import *By JAKE ROCKLANDER Daily Planet Slave* In an effort to stamp out Mom and Pop businesses in the city for good, the Slanta Monica Planning Commission voted overwhelmingly last night to alter zoning on the Third Street Marmalade. From now on, any new business that wants to relocate to space on the popular four-block shopping row must represent a franchise or chain-store. No exceptions allowed. Chain restaurants, such as Blubba Gump or Planet Hollyweird are okay. "We just figured, hey, if it’s good for the businesses in this town, then it’s good for us," said Bruno Talbot, planning commission chairman. "And this is gonna makes lots of money for lots of people. I consider this plan cutting edge." Talbot deflected all questions about his murky purchases last month of several luxury houses in Las Vegas and a 100-foot yacht in Florida to his lawyer, who didn’t return a phone message. In order to be considered a franchise or chain-store, a business must have at least ten other similarly-named businesses currently operating here or abroad. The commission voted 5-2 in favor of approving the new zoning law, which will now be forwarded to the Slanta Monica City Council. The council is scheduled to take-up the measure at next week’s meeting. Dinah Blinkey, one of the two dissenting members of the commission, was in tears after the final vote. "I’m weeping for small businesses everywhere," she said. "I feel as if I’ve been mortally wounded." During debate before the vote, Blinkey regaled the audience with tales of a childhood spent in the 1930s in her father’s small business -- a tavern/brothel located on Ocean Avenue. The stories, which were chided as inappropriate by some of her colleagues, were mostly about the sisterly antics between Blinkey, then a child, and the in-house prostitutes and the drunken sailors who patronized and lived at the legendary house of ill repute. Still, such nostalgia was not enough to sway her colleagues, who seemed to agree that times had changed. "The bottom line is, landlords can get a hell of a lot more money from these national chain corporations, or whatever they are, than from some schmuck who wants to open an art gallery," said plan-ning commission member Hanson R. McReynolds. Another member, Prentice Nutt, agreed, saying that most "regular people" don’t even want to shop at stores with names out front they don’t recognize because they are usually dirty and offer inferior merchandise. "Which would you rather choose – Aberslombie or Elvira’s Witchery Shoppe?" Nutt said. "I mean, I think you can see my point." The new ordinance goes into affect next year and will serve to gradually weed out the non-franchise, non-chain businesses currently existing on the Marmelade. For example, when one such business closes, it can only be replaced by a franchise. Also, the ordinance allows landlords to increase the rent on existing non-franchise businesses by up to but not exceeding 33 percent per year. Cleo Simona, owner of Cleo’s Recycled Fashions on the Marmelade, said she was disappointed and saddened by last night’s outcome. "I don’t feel my voice was heard," she said. However, Flak O’Hooker of the trade group, Sameness Is Good, considered the new law a victory. "Finally we can have a uniform code of conduct for businesses along the Marmelade," O’Hooker said. "Now if we could just get rid of all those annoying street performers and, of course, the people who don’t bathe regularly." *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 1, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040102.pdf?ref=smdp.com)