The Santa Monica City Council is expected to consider a proposal to create a paparazzi “buffer zone” around preschools to protect celebrities dropping off their children. The Los Angeles Times says the impetus comes from the First Presbyterian Nursery School in Santa Monica, where non-celebrity children and parents sometimes become accidental players in the Hollywood tug-of-war between paparazzi and real celebrities. According to school parents, when actress Jennifer Garner and her husband, actor Ben Affleck, are in town and toting 3-year-old Violet to the school, paparazzi swoop down like crows.
Parents contend that the presence of aggressive, loud celebrity photographers is robbing children of a peaceful walk into school and their parents of parking spaces and a sense of security. “It's incredibly invasive,” said Marshall Coben, a Malibu businessman who was dropping off his 5-year-old son. “It's like walking a gauntlet.” Councilman Richard Bloom, who visited the school to see the chaos, said he will ask the council staff to recommend a proposal to curb the frenzy.