Committee Urges Palladium Restrictions : Zoning: The City Council will probably consider imposing limits for the trouble-plagued ballroom next month.

A mother whose son was shot and seriously wounded Christmas night at the Hollywood Palladium pleaded with Los Angeles officials this week to shut down the landmark ballroom, saying violence there is out of control.

“I believe in (the Palladium’s right to survive economically), but not at the expense of our children’s lives,” said Margaret Britt, whose teen-age son was wounded while waiting in line to attend a dance.

The Inglewood woman’s testimony Tuesday before a City Council committee lent real-life drama to claims by police and others that the once proud venue has become a public nuisance.

After hearing arguments on both sides, the Planning and Land Use Management Committee recommended that operations at the Palladium be restricted, setting the stage for the full City Council to decide the future of the troubled venue, probably next month.

Citing an epidemic of law enforcement problems, the city’s top zoning officer last year recommended that the Palladium’s dance and liquor licenses be revoked and that the famous ballroom be turned into a supper club.

The Palladium’s politically influential owners, including parking company executive Steve Ullman, later persuaded the Board of Zoning Appeals to spare the licenses.

The owners then took the additional step of requesting an appeal before the City Council of certain restrictions imposed by the zoning panel.

But that was before the Christmas violence further outraged merchants and residents. They complain that problems at the Palladium, which is at Sunset Boulevard and Argyle Avenue, have driven away tourists, and they say taxpayers should not be forced to pay for the heavy police presence often needed to control unruly crowds there.

On Tuesday, council members Hal Bernson and Ruth Galanter recommended that the owners be required to devise a security plan for Palladium events that meets police approval. They also recommended giving the city’s zoning administrator the authority to revoke the licenses without a hearing should there be future violations. Councilman Nate Holden, who is also a committee member, did not attend.

A spokeswoman for Councilman Michael Woo, who represents Hollywood and who after the Christmas violence announced that he intended to reopen revocation proceedings, said he was pleased with Tuesday’s outcome.

“We’re really satisfied that the first step (toward) revocation has been taken, and we’re ready to see the licenses pulled if they violate any of these conditions,” said Julie Jaskol, the spokeswoman.

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In arguing for revocation, police have painted a picture of an entertainment hall run amok, where officers routinely confront suspected robbers, drug abusers, drunks, vandals and perpetrators of violence.

Authorities say that there have been at least a dozen serious incidents at the ballroom in recent years and that in the last four months, seven people have been shot or stabbed there.

The Christmas incident was the second time police have declare a tactical alert at the venue.

An alert was called in 1991 after 500 young people rioted during a sold-out rock concert. Police literally pulled the plug on the concert when patrons set their programs afire in an attempt to set off the ceiling sprinklers.

In the Christmas episode, Britt and another youth were shot and a third person was stabbed during a disturbance that required 130 police officers--including 60 in riot gear--to quell.

Authorities said Britt, a starting guard on the Los Angeles City College basketball team, and the other shooting victim were among about 400 people waiting in line to get inside the building when gunfire erupted.

Fighting back tears, Margaret Britt expressed fear that the bullet that struck her son, and which remains lodged in his left shoulder, may have ended his athletic career.

She blamed the Palladium for overselling tickets to the dance, saying her son would not have been shot had he not been forced to stand outside for two hours despite having bought an advance ticket.

“He’s not back in school. He’s not playing basketball anymore. . . . He could have easily been killed, and for what?” she said.

The Palladium’s management and the event’s promoter have denied that the dance was overbooked, saying fewer than 1,700 tickets were sold. The building has a capacity of 3,875.

Donald P. Baker, a lawyer for the owners, said dance-goers experienced a delay getting into the building because a metal detector was being used to screen weapons at the door.

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Baker said that the Palladium has been blamed unfairly for problems that were not of its making.

“If we didn’t screen for weapons on the outside, they would all be on the inside,” he said.

During the hearing, police and the Palladium’s management offered conflicting descriptions of the Christmas episode.

Mark Midgley, the ballroom’s general manager, said that the gunfire that struck Britt and the other victim was from a passing van and that the disturbance occurred when some in the crowd panicked and rushed the doors.

However, Capt. Francisco Pegueros of the Hollywood Division said it was not clear where the bullets that struck Britt and the other victim came from. The van described by Midgley was involved in a second incident nearby involving gunfire later that night, Pegueros said. But he said police have no evidence that the Palladium incident was a drive-by shooting.

Pegueros also disputed management’s claim that the disturbance was confined to the outdoors, saying an officer at the scene reported hearing gunfire inside the building.