WESTMINSTER : Commission Calls for Curbs on Nightclub

After emotional pleas from the family of a man who was fatally injured outside a popular local nightclub, the Planning Commission urged the City Council to prohibit the club from offering live entertainment and selling alcohol.

The commission reviewed the conditional-use permit for the club, Tijuana Jones, on Monday after police complained that the club’s patrons caused too many disturbances, especially on weekends. Police detective Bob Gill said that since Jan. 1, 1991, officers were called to the restaurant at 16310 Beach Blvd. 98 times for disturbances, including 29 assaults, one sexual battery, one rape and one homicide.

Regina Hardin, mother of 24-year-old Bryan Bensfield, who was beaten outside the restaurant on Nov. 28 and died several days later, told the commission before the vote: “I wonder what else has to happen before (the city) puts a place like this out of business. . . . Tijuana Jones is a disgrace.”

Police are continuing to investigate the beating and have not made any arrests. More than 30 of Bensfield’s relatives and friends attended the meeting, and many silently waved signs with his photo that read “Stop the Violence.”

Several Tijuana Jones representatives who attended the meeting said police and newspaper reports about incidents there have exaggerated the problems. They also said that new bouncers hired in November will improve security and that the club will soon change its music format and implement a dress code to attract a “more upscale clientele.” Bouncers will also continue to deter underage patrons from drinking at the club, which has been cited twice for serving minors, the representatives said.

Tony Ponce, a spokesman for the club, said the changes were “not going to happen overnight. It would take a few months to ease into the new format . . . (but) we’re committed to change for the safety and enjoyment of our patrons.”

But Commissioner Russell Paris said before the vote that “a few months” was too long.

“We are going to help you make these decisions, and we are going help you make them fast,” he told club representatives.

Although Tijuana Jones now operates primarily as a nightclub, Mike Bouvier, the city planning and building manager, said the council permit does not allow it to do so. The permit defines the business as a family restaurant that allows live talent and comedy shows and jazz and reggae music on Sunday afternoons only.

However, Bouvier said the club’s primary source of revenue is its music and dancing on weekend nights, not its food, which violates the permit.

Shortly before the vote, the commission chairman, Art Gandy, delivered a scathing attack against Tijuana Jones’ management, calling the club a “health and safety risk.”

“I am thoroughly disgusted with how you have abused the city’s conditional-use permit,” he said. “The management has taken action too late. It’s not supposed to be a nightclub. It’s a restaurant.”

Gandy made a motion urging the council to require Tijuana Jones to reduce its bar size and business hours, remove the dance floor and enlarge its dining area, and stop all entertainment. In an unusual move, all the other commission members seconded the motion, which was then passed unanimously.

Because the permit was originally granted by the City Council, it must make the final decision on whether to revoke it. The council is scheduled to vote on the permit after another public hearing Feb. 11.