Only local flags to fly from Old World’s poles

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The American flag flying in front of the Old World

Village on Center Avenue will soon be joined by banners representing the

state of California and the city of Huntington Beach.

The village’s five-person board of directors, which acts as a

homeowners association for its tenants, unanimously approved a policy

Oct. 25 that outlines out how flags will be reviewed and displayed. The

move comes after one Old World shop owner and resident claimed

discrimination because an Israeli flag she raised on the village’s poles

to honor the Jewish High Holy Days was removed.

“We basically decided to fly only the city, state and national flags

right now, while allowing residents to fly their own flags in front of

their businesses,” board member Richard Lewis said.

The national banners reflecting the village’s German theme, and others

symbolizing the countries represented by the village’s specialty shops,

were primarily flown on five flagpoles that stand along the shopping

center’s Center Avenue face.

Boutique owner Michele Weiss raised the Israeli flag on Sept. 29. Old

World officials said they took it down because she did not get approval

from the village’s governing board to fly it. The flag poles, directors

said, are public property, and flags flown on them must be approved by

the board.

Weiss said she was the victim of anti-Semitic prejudice and that the

flag was taken down because she’s Jewish in a German-themed village. She

hired an attorney Friday to look into other claims of prejudice.

In a special meeting held Oct. 7, village directors discussed Weiss’s

concerns and took down all national banners except the American flag

until a clear-cut flag policy could be developed at last week’s board

meeting.

Lewis said that while only three flags will be flown out front,

residents and shop owners can display flags in front of their businesses,

as long as requests are submitted to the village’s flag and architectural

committees, with final approval of the board of directors.

“I don’t think we’ll refuse anyone, and it will bring some color to

the village,” he said.