A New Kind of Planning Controversy: the Emoji House

A complaint about an illegal Airbnb, a very visual response, and a headache for city officials in the city of Manhattan Beach, California.

1 minute read

August 18, 2019, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Emoji Neighborhood

Arizzona Design / Shutterstock

Alexa Díaz reports on a controversy in a Southern California beach town surrounding a home with bright pink paint job, adorned with two giant emojis.

Neighbors of the home on 39th Street in Manhattan Beach "say it’s retribution in a property dispute that has turned into a battle with the city," according to Díaz.

The whole controversy can be traced back to neighbors reporting the owner, Kathryn Kidd, fir renting the house on Airbnb, which is illegal in the city. "After Kidd was fined for violating the city’s rental laws, the property was painted bubble-gum pink with yellow emojis, as first reported by Easy Reader News," according to Díaz.

Now the controversy is headed to the desks of city attorneys and city planners, who are considering adopting regulations that require paint jobs on homes to be "content neutral."

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 in Los Angeles Times

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