W. Hollywood Card Club Backers Lose Court Bid

Supporters of a proposed West Hollywood city ordinance that would allow a card club to be built lost a court bid Friday to have much of an argument opposing the measure stricken from the ballot.

Superior Court Judge David Yaffe ruled that such language as “sleazy,” “fraud” and “scam” must be allowed in the argument opposing the measure because there was no “clear and convincing evidence” to show the argument is false.

However, Yaffe ordered the city clerk to strike a portion of the argument that alleges other cities that have allowed card clubs to be built experienced more crime. Bradley Hertz, a lawyer representing Bruce Decker, who wants to build the card club, said he presented statistics to Yaffe showing that crime actually declined in the city of Bell when a card club was built there.