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D. Unlike mail service, vacationers have no way to stop the <br />distribution of printed or written materials being left on their <br />doorstep while they are away. Studies performed by other <br />cities and courts have concluded that "the unauthorized <br />depositing of literature on private property creates a serious <br />police problem in that occupants of such property are unable <br />to control such unauthorized depositing and the <br />accumulation thereof is an advertisement to the criminally <br />inclined that the property is unoccupied." <br />E. The courts of this state have agreed that the problem of <br />accumulating litter in residential areas is a major concern for <br />cities, and the goal of the reduction of litter throughout the <br />community is a legitimate and an increasingly urgent <br />government objective. <br />F. Courts have traditionally respected the right of a resident to <br />bar, by order or notice, dissemination of handbills on the <br />resident's property. Under this Ordinance, the right to <br />distribute printed or written material is restricted only by an <br />affirmative act of the resident giving notice of the <br />determination that no printed or written material be left on his <br />or her doorstep. Courts have held that: "To hold less would <br />tend to license a form of trespass and would make hardly <br />more sense than to say that a radio or television viewer may <br />not twist the dial to cut off an offensive or boring <br />communication and thus bar its entering his home." <br />G. Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, a <br />categorical exemption (No. ER 2007-115) has been adopted <br />with respect to this Ordinance. <br />Section 2: Article IX is added to Chapter 17 of the Santa Ana Municipal <br />Code to read in full as follows: <br />ARTICLE IX. <br />RESIDENTIAL HANDBILLS <br />Sec. 17-140. Purpose. <br />A. The City has a compelling need to prohibit the distribution of printed <br />or written materials on private premises in defiance of the previously expressed <br />will of the resident. Prohibiting distribution of printed or written material, in <br />defiance of a resident's expressed desire not to receive them, strikes an <br />appropriate accommodation between the rights of distributors to solicit willing <br />50A-4 <br />