No ducking this law

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- A tough ordinance restricting feeding and breeding

ducks doesn’t go far enough, City Councilwoman Norma Glover said,

suggesting the law might even be broadened to include pigeons.

“I intend to bring this back,” Glover told the council, which

unanimously supported a preliminary move on Tuesday to put the law on the

books. If the ordinance passes at the council’s Jan. 8 meeting, it will

forbid people from all but the most small-scale feeding of ducks, terns

and other waterfowl.

“This ordinance is way overdue,” said Don Smith, a Balboa Island

resident who said he has had to endure for years the foul-smelling

droppings at one Grand Canal house. Other neighbors also testified about

living near “duck central,” one of whom called the conditions there “a

filthy, disgusting, stinking mess.”

The ordinance was introduced by Councilman Steve Bromberg in response

to complaints about the house, where more than 100 ducks have flocked for

daily feeding.

Newly crowned Mayor Tod Ridgeway was quick to point out, though, that

city officials aren’t targeting just one house. There are several places

in the city where ducks have set up camp to take advantage of humans’

consistent generosity, he said.

Odor is just part of the problem. A main motivation for city officials

lies in the fact that duck droppings are unusually high in bacteria that

commonly cause beach closures. But to achieve the ends of clean water and

a more pleasant Grand Canal, city staff crafted the language of the law

to focus on the migration patterns that are disrupted when people set out

large quantities of food. This way, officials have argued, individuals

throwing pieces of bread to ducks won’t be breaking the law.

But the legal tightrope officials walked to craft the law could

ultimately fence them in: Pigeons don’t migrate, so the law’s logic can’t

be extended to them, Councilman Gary Proctor pointed out.

Glover, though, pledged to look for a way to beef up the ordinance.

She said that, as county rules on water quality are expected to become

much more stringent, the time is right to get tough.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .