Riverside Planning Tougher Permit Law

In the wake of complaints by black and Latino residents in Orange and Riverside counties that the Red Onion restaurant chain barred them from its discos because of racial bias, the Riverside City Council on Tuesday asked its city attorney to draft a law that would allow the city to revoke the permit of a dance hall operator who violates state and federal civil rights laws.

The council thus endorsed one of several recommendations by the Riverside Community Relations Commission, a citizens’ group that has been looking into allegations of racial discrimination at the local Red Onion since May.

After a three-month inquiry, in which more than a dozen people from Riverside and Orange County told commission members that they were refused entry into the Red Onion discos because of alleged racism, the commission told the council that it believed “the Red Onion’s actions were the result of a well-entrenched corporate policy.”

Red Onion officials have repeatedly denied that the company discriminates. But in order to correct what they have called the “perception of a problem,” executives of the company recently announced a $2-million-a-year minority outreach effort that includes the adoption of a non-discriminatory hiring and training policy, a nationwide search for minority suppliers and the establishment of a scholarship fund for minority youths.

John Woodhead, Riverside’s city attorney, said Tuesday that he will explore updating what he called an outdated 1925 dance hall permit law to allow the city to revoke dance permits if the operators did not comply with the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act or the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Under such a revision, operators who refuse to get a permit or continue to operate after their permit has been revoked could be prosecuted for a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or six months in jail.

“Right now the city is powerless to do anything other than contact other agencies,” said Art Garcia, the chairman of the Riverside Community Relations Commission.

“Our report is really a statement to discourage Riverside businesses from even thinking of discrimination,” he added. “We hope this accomplishes that.”

The commission’s report, which was adopted 7 to 0 by the City Council, also recommends that the Red Onion take out newspaper ads to make a “public apology,” including “a pledge to refrain from such actions in the future,” that the Red Onion buy a series of advertisements in local minority newspapers to invite the minority trade to the Red Onion and that the Carson-based company be encouraged to join the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Red Onion officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday on the city’s actions.

The commission also suggests several remedies that the Red Onion has already agreed to, including recruiting, hiring and promoting of blacks and other minorities into the Red Onion’s operations, a minority youth scholarship fund and the ongoing monitoring of Red Onion policies by local community leaders.

Investigations into the Red Onion’s admission practices are being conducted by the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board as a result of more than 50 complaints of racial discrimination at Red Onion discos around the Southland.