County Supervisor Hahn Urges City of Los Angeles Not to Rollback Container Stacking Ordinance

Wilmington, California – Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn sent letters to Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino and to the Los Angeles Harbor Commission to urge them not to consider rolling back an ordinance that prevents empty shipping containers from being stacked more than 20 feet high in neighborhoods.

Her letter comes in response to attention being given to five recommendations shared on Twitter by Portflex CEO Ryan Petersen aimed at solving supply chain disruptions.

“Some of the recommendations are worth exploring– but one of them must be off the table and that is the suggestion of relaxing the ordinance that limits the stacking of empty containers in our communities,” said Supervisor Hahn who represented Wilmington on the Los Angeles City Council and fought for the passage of the ordinance. “Before this ordinance, there were neighborhoods in Wilmington where the sun set an hour early because of how completely surrounded they were by containers.”

Long Beach has already made the decision to relax its container stacking ordinance, but Hahn is urging Los Angeles not to.

“It will not solve the empty container traffic jam,” continued Hahn.  “It will just relocate it to a low-income community that has already suffered too much from the long-standing problems associated with our goods movement industry.”