Riordan’s Veto Blocks Sex Club

Mayor Richard Riordan refused Friday to approve the City Council’s decision to grant a zoning variance that would allow a controversial East Hollywood sex club to continue operating near a school and private residences.

In an unusual action, the mayor sent the council a stinging message that he would “listen to the wishes” of the community and prevent the sex club from violating city zoning laws by remaining within 500 feet of a residential area.

Riordan, whose office received many calls and letters urging him to disapprove the club’s continued operation at its current site, said he was acting on behalf of the neighbors who opposed its location near their homes, a school and a library.

The mayor said his action was “about communities having a voice in government” and he stressed that the decision was not influenced by the fact that the club is a center for gay sex.

Riordan noted that other organizations--including homes for the mentally ill and, more recently, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue--have been denied zoning variances identical to the one being sought by the Barracks, a so-called sexual encounter club.

“I don’t see why this group should be different,” Riordan said, adding that the city needs “one set of rules for nightclubs and synagogues.”

Although Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg lobbied her colleagues hard to keep open the club, which is in her district, she said she won’t ask her colleagues to override the mayor’s action. The council narrowly agreed nine days ago to allow the Barracks to remain open if its owners met more than two dozen conditions.

“It’s done, it’s closed,” she said after angrily blasting the mayor for announcing his decision at a meeting of San Fernando Valley business leaders. “I have to tell you I take great umbrage at the way he did this.”

Goldberg said the mayor twice promised to consult with her before making a decision on the zoning variance. And she said it was “political posturing” for the mayor to announce his decision to the business leaders, who applauded when they heard it.

Riordan, who earlier in his speech had forcefully proclaimed his opposition to Valley secession, linked the sex club request to that issue.

“How can you expect people not to vote for secession when you don’t listen to them?” Riordan asked the audience, adding that he was “duty-bound to protect neighborhoods.”

Goldberg characterized it differently.

“It was, ‘If you don’t love me for my anti-secession speech, you can love me for this,’ ” she said.

Riordan said he called Goldberg before the speech, describing the conversation as “very interesting.” He said he recalled only promising to call the councilwoman before announcing his decision, not before making it.

Others described the pair’s conversation as a very heated, 20-minute exchange.

Goldberg said the mayor’s approach “is not one I will quickly forget. I told him I had much higher regard for him before this.”

Although Goldberg discounts a community group’s concerns with the nightclub, the Rampart Rangers/East Hollywood Neighborhood Watch group fought hard against the club, citing a host of problems with its Santa Monica Boulevard location.

“I’m very relieved,” said Geoffrey Saldivar, president of the group. “I’m very pleased that the mayor was able to look beyond the politics and see the law in this matter. This is a square peg that they’ve been trying to get into a round hole.”

Josh Kaplan, an attorney for the club, was unavailable for comment Friday.

Robin Kramer, the mayor’s chief of staff, said the issue was based purely on neighborhood concerns.

“These kinds of issues shape the way people feel about their community, their city and their safety,” Kramer said. “They are much more than symbolic. They are quality of life issues.”

The club had been operating illegally since January, but the Los Angeles Police Department has not cited its owners. Neighbors say they have complained long and hard about parking problems, used condoms thrown on the streets and cruising.

Riordan said, however, he would expect police to enforce the law--without singling out the club for punitive enforcement--and that he would hold Police Chief Bernard Parks accountable for doing so.

The mayor’s action was rare. Usually, when he opposes the council’s apparent consensus on an issue, he typically expresses his opposition to council members in writing, sparing him the embarrassment of a possible override and a nasty public battle with the lawmakers.

But this issue struck a chord with the mayor, his aides said.

“The dynamics here were different,” Kramer said, adding that one council member, whom she did not identify, urged the mayor to disapprove it. “There was certainly not unanimity on the council.”

Indeed, the council debated the issue for a couple of hours before taking several votes, two of which failed to achieve the necessary majority. The zoning exceptions were only approved when 24 conditions were placed on the owners, including a requirement that condoms be handed out to all patrons at the door.

On Friday, many council members ducked the whole issue, declining to comment or not returning telephone calls.

Council President John Ferraro, who voted against the variance, said he believed the council did not have the 10 votes necessary to override the mayor’s action, which he called surprising.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who voted for the exception, said she would have voted against an override, but added that she believes the mayor received pressure from the community as well as from the media--in editorials and columns.

“I think he paid attention to the votes in council and knew this was a safe veto,” Chick said.