San Gabriel Valley : Azusa Voters to Decide Card Club Issue Today

Voters in Azusa will decide today whether the city will become the first in the San Gabriel Valley to allow card clubs.

With a three-year statewide moratorium on new gaming clubs set to take effect next month, the vote represents the final roll of the dice for casino developers hoping to build in the area.

Card club proponents must beat a losing streak that has seen the nearby cities of Baldwin Park, South El Monte, Irwindale and, just last month, Pomona firmly reject casinos.

Proposition A has divided the 41,000 residents of Azusa. Mayor Stephen Alexander, former Mayor Eugene Moses and council members Tony Naranjo and Diane Beebe endorsed the measure while a local council of churches, Azusa Pacific University and Councilwoman Cristina Madrid have actively opposed it.

An investment group that includes the owners of the Normandie Casino in Gardena wants to open a 116,000-square-foot club with 75 to 100 card tables at the site of a former Price Club, in the 1100 block of Foothill Boulevard just off the Foothill Freeway. The Azusa Grand Entertainment Center would eventually expand to 200 tables if it is successful.

Club backers have promised as many as 2,500 new jobs and $5 million annually in tax revenues to the city from the club. They recently held a jobs fair for prospective employees.

“The city needs revenue,” Naranjo said. “The unemployment rate in Azusa is 7%. We need jobs.”