SOUTH GATE : Council Delays Vote on Bingo, Stipends

The City Council last week was set to designate itself the city’s Gaming Commission and increase member stipends by $300 a month. But angry residents and a councilman wary of gambling and the pay hike managed to force the council to delay the action and revise its plans.

Because the ordinance was placed on the council meeting agenda as an urgency item, residents had only Tuesday to offer input on the proposed commission, which would oversee planned bingo operations as well as potential slot machine parlors if approved by the state Legislature.

If the proposed ordinance creating the gaming commission received four of the five votes, it would have taken effect immediately. Usually, state law requires viewing of an ordinance at two council meetings before a vote is taken.

In an interview before last week’s meeting, the mayor had said the matter was placed on the agenda as an urgency item to speed negotiations with two organizations to open bingo halls, which would provide the financially strapped city a portion of their revenues.

But the plan fell apart when a councilman and residents raised questions about the commission--voters rejected a card club measure four years ago--and the pay hike.

Councilman Henry G. Gonzalez dissented. Mayor Albert Robles was on a business trip and the three remaining council members decided to wait until the mayor returns before considering the matter.

A new proposal, to be considered June 13, narrows the focus of the commission to just handling bingo operations and reduces the stipend from $150 for each of the biweekly meetings to between $30 and $45 each. Council members already are paid a $65 stipend for Redevelopment Agency meetings, bringing their current total monthly compensation to $600.

Acting as the Redevelopment Agency, the council has been negotiating with the Oldtimers Foundation and the Southern California Regional Resource Foundation to operate a nightly bingo parlor in the former Builders Emporium building at 5645 Firestone Blvd. Winnings at the games would pay up to $250 per game, the highest amount allowed by the state.

They would provide the city 1% of their gross revenues, estimated at $35 million for the first year. The city also would garner about 50% of the parlor’s net revenues, but no estimate was available because overhead costs had not been calculated. Money from the city’s net revenues would go to charities and improving South Gate Park.

Critics said it seemed the council was trying to sneak gambling into the city.

“This [ordinance] opens the door to a wide range of gaming and gambling,” business owner Khalil Nino said after the council delayed its vote. “Why does the city have to get involved in gaming in the first place? We have churches and nonprofit organizations managing bingo games already. We voted these people in to run the city, not gambling.”

“Who nominated them to be on the Gaming Commission? That’s too much power for the council,” said Araceli Dominguez, president of the city’s Citizen Advisory Committee, which gives input on how community federal grants are spent. “We worked very hard to keep gambling out and we don’t want it to come back.”

Interim City Manager Ron George, who is also the city’s police chief, has said the venture is a creative way to raise revenues without raising taxes.

Oldtimers, a nonprofit agency that provides meals, recreational programs and other services to senior citizens, has been a longtime charity in the region. It has run small weekly bingo games for 15 years.

The nonprofit Resource Foundation was formed specifically to seek the South Gate bingo bid and would turn over its revenues to charities.

City officials, at one time, had said the bingo parlor would be open by September if things went smoothly, but now that doesn’t seem likely.

“The city is attempting to finalize a lease agreement with Oldtimers, but some key points are still unresolved,” said City Atty. Arnold Alvarez-Glasman. “Since we’ve been unable to reach a conclusion we had put negotiations on hold,” but the council is ready to move forward.