City Threat Sours Bingo Game’s Move to New, Lavish Site

A threat to suspend the license of Los Angeles’ largest and most profitable charity bingo game is marring its move from a run-down Canoga Park shopping center to lavish new quarters in Woodland Hills’ Warner Center.

The top city bingo regulator said Tuesday that he may suspend the operating license of the Identity bingo game after being blocked by a judge from permanently closing the game.

Robert Burns, director of the city Social Service Department’s bingo division, threatened to impose a 45-day suspension on Identity when the organization’s leaders ask for a renewed license after they supply him with an occupancy permit for their new 878-seat facility. Identity officials said they plan to do that today.

The Social Service Department has charged that operators of the Identity bingo game violated city and state bingo laws in their expenditure of $6.3 million in proceeds from games. The thrice-weekly games were held until last fall in a 1,285-seat bingo parlor in a converted five-and-dime storefront at the Fallbrook Square shopping center.

Woes Blamed on Picus

Game operators, who claim they have spent $337,631 on charitable causes, have angrily denied the accusations. They have accused city officials of picking on the West Valley bingo operation because of what they perceive as the anti-gambling prejudice of local Councilwoman Joy Picus.

The dispute has focused attention on Identity, a 5 1/2-year-old nonprofit corporation. Its founders said Identity was created to assist physically disabled youths and turned to bingo as a source of cash only after other fund-raising efforts failed.

But Picus contends that the Identity Corp. is nothing more than a front organization for the bingo game.

“I don’t believe there is anybody being helped,” said the councilwoman, whose West Valley district includes Identity’s old shopping center location and its new headquarters and bingo parlor at 6051 De Soto Ave.

“And let me say I’m not the only one who harbors deep suspicions on what’s going on there,” Picus said.

Burns attempted last year to permanently revoke Identity Corp.’s bingo license, charging the group with 10 violations of city and state bingo laws.

8 Charges Thrown Out

All but two of the alleged violations were dropped, however, after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jack T. Ryburn ruled last month that they were “perhaps technical violations.” The judge said that the city’s revocation action appeared “excessively harsh, abusive and arbitrary.”

City bingo officials say the remaining two alleged violations involve a $20,000 loan of Identity funds to the group’s accountant and the use of a bingo game number caller whose family has sold supplies to Identity.

City officials said Identity is using $500,000 of the proceeds earmarked for charitable work for remodeling its 24,000-square-foot Warner Center bingo parlor and offices. Rent for the facility, which has carpeted and wood-paneled offices, is $14,000 a month, according to Identity officers.

“It does take a while for a new charity to get its programs going,” Burns said. “But you look at their offices. They’re like a university president’s.”

Matthew A. Rattay, an Identity director who serves as its lawyer, said Tuesday that, if Burns carries through on his threat to suspend the group’s license, it would cripple Identity’s ability to continue its charity work.

“All the services to the handicapped would have to be cut off because we’d be out of funds,” Rattay said. “This has been a travesty.”

The Identity bingo games were started by Edith Ryan, a former homemaker from Canoga Park who said she created the organization after observing the lack of rehabilitative services available for her stepson, who was disabled by a bicycle accident.

Ryan blames Picus for her group’s legal problems. She charged Tuesday that the councilwoman initiated the Social Service Department’s investigation and then sought to stall Identity’s Warner Center remodeling permits because of a personal dislike for bingo.

‘Never Scammed or Schemed’

“I’ve never scammed or schemed a dime from anyone,” Ryan, 58, said. “They think I’ve got a Rolls Royce or something out of this. All I’m getting is a $500-a-week salary.”

Picus said she has consistently voted in favor of closely regulated bingo games in the city and denied that she caused Identity’s building permit or bingo license problems. City bingo officials and Building and Safety Department administrators also said Picus had not told them to investigate the West Valley bingo operation.

“I believe she created this thing called Identity as a cover for bingo,” Picus said of Ryan. “I’m shocked at the amount of money she’s raised. I think we should see more in the community . . . than we’ve seen.”

Ryan said the organization donated funds for an independent living residence for youth at 23350 Vanowen St. in Canoga Park, various scholarships to individuals and to programs, and facilities at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

The college donations include wheelchair ramps built last year at a cost of $60,000 outside eight college classroom bungalows, according to Identity records.

Mary Duxler, a Pierce College speech professor whose classroom is among those now reached by ramp, praised the organization’s work.

‘Just Fantastic’

“This is the first time in the 15 years I’ve been here that we haven’t had to turn away handicapped people,” Duxler said. “It’s illegal for us to lift people into these classrooms ourselves. They are just fantastic.”

Ryan’s office records indicate that 31 handicapped individuals have been aided by Identity since it started raising money through bingo. She said many groups also had benefited from its contributions.

However, she acknowledged the only resident at the $108,000 Vanowen Street residence is her stepson, Shawn Ryan, now 24. She said two other young men have stayed in the past at the home and that it is available to other disabled persons who need shelter.

In statements filed with the city’s bingo division, Identity said it grossed $6.3 million with net profits of $1.4 million after such things as prizes and operating expenses were deducted during the period it operated at Fallbrook Square. Those games started in March, 1983, and ended last November, when the bingo parlor was shut down as part of a remodeling of the shopping center.

Citywide, 93 licensed bingo operators recorded total receipts of $30.7 million in 1984. After prizes and operating costs were deducted, the city’s games were left with $4.9 million to donate to their specified charities, city officials said.

City officials have said the Identity bingo operation attracts the most players and brings in the most money of any in the city.