LA City cracks down on store's sign placement but won't address homeless encampments, business owner says

LOS ANGELES - A San Fernando Valley-based business owner accuses Los Angeles City's code enforcement of going over the top in monitoring the store's sign placement. All this while Southern California sees homeless encampments blocking the sidewalks.

Arik Air tells FOX 11 he has been in Granada Hills for about 15 years. He says he's so tired of being harassed by code enforcement that he's considering leaving California.

Air says LA City has been operating under a double standard.

"No matter what I do, it's always illegal," Air said. "But at the same time, they don't deal with real crime."

Air said while homeless encampments are blocking the entire sidewalks across Los Angeles, his business, Motostyles, has been visited by code enforcement agents four times in one month.

"I think that this is going beyond ridiculous," he said.

The issue? The A-Frame sign is apparently sitting too close to city property.

FOX 11 spoke with one of the customers to hear their thoughts on the apparent sign issue.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," said Harry Arzrounian, a customer. "They [LA City] definitely have to get their priorities straight."

FOX 11 contacted LA City's code enforcement but the office could not be reached for comment before the 10 p.m. newscast Friday. We also contacted City Councilman John Lee's office, but we were not able to hear back from them before late Friday night.