Permit Denial Prompts Anti-Semitism Remarks

The city Planning Commission on Tuesday rejected Big Red Family Entertainment Center’s request for a permit to add an upscale restaurant to an existing pizza parlor and arcade, saying alcohol and kids’ video games don’t mix.

The owner of the popular pizza restaurant and game room sought permission to divide the facility into two buildings: one where beer, wine and spirits would be sold to diners, and another where kids could play arcade games, officials said.

The five-member Planning Commission unanimously denied the application, citing provisions in the city’s zoning code and liquor ordinance that ban alcohol sales by businesses with electronic arcade games, Planning Commission Chairman John Becker said Wednesday.

The denial prompted a verbal barrage from Julian Medrano--a business consultant for restaurant co-owner Avi Levy--who accused the commission of rejecting the application for political and racial reasons, Becker said.

“My client, Avi Levy, said he feels that he has been asked to do things way above the norm for applicants for city licenses,” Medrano said Wednesday. “He feels that he has been labeled as a conniving individual who has operated in an underhanded manner. He felt very insulted. Applicants who were not Jewish seemed to be treated with more respect.”

Levy is not threatening to sue the city for discrimination, Medrano said, but he said his client feels “picked on.”

“I told him that there isn’t a biased bone in my body,” Becker said he told Medrano. “I demanded an apology and got one from him later.”

Medrano said Levy envisioned a multipurpose plaza with three buildings set around a courtyard with an upscale restaurant, merchandise carts and attractions for children.

Medrano said the zoning ordinance allows for mixed uses at one site, however the commission disagreed.

Levy plans to appeal the commission’s decision, Medrano said.