CYPRESS : Bingo Games Must Move in 6 Months

The embattled Cypress High School booster clubs, which have irked neighbors with weekly bingo operations, have been given six months to take their games elsewhere.

In a unanimous decision, the City Council this week ordered the boosters to stop holding the games at the Boys and Girls Club on Moody Street by Oct. 1. In addition, several parking restrictions in the vicinity of the club were also adopted.

The decision comes months after angry residents complained that bingo players brought noise, trash and parking problems to their neighborhood.

After a lengthy public hearing earlier this year, the council agreed that the games must stop but didn’t put a time limit on them until this week.

After the earlier hearing, the Traffic Commission met with residents and officials from the Cypress High School boosters, who operate the bingo games, to iron out a temporary solution.

On Monday, a handful of residents told council members there was no quick fix and asked them to shut down the bingo games.

“They aren’t going to do anything until you people tell them they’ve got to,” Donald Eldridge, who lives across from the club, told the council. “How much longer is this going to drag on?”

At the suggestion of Councilman Walter K. Bowman, the council agreed to give the booster clubs six months to move. The council also approved a variety of parking regulations to alleviate some of the traffic concerns before the move takes place.

The new regulations, recommended by the Traffic Commission, include installing parallel parking stalls on both Moody Street and intersecting Myra Avenue, and parking bans at areas on the south side of Myra Avenue.

All of the proceeds from the Saturday and Sunday night games go to fund the athletic and band booster clubs at Cypress High School.

Gerald Elftman, who heads the band boosters, told the council that the boosters are trying to find another place to hold their games and are negotiating with officials at Lexington Junior High.