South Pasadena Rescinds the Posting of Grades for Restaurants

Jeff Higgins said the consistent B grades became an embarrassment.

Customers, seeing the health inspection grade posted at the South Pasadena restaurant where he works, wondered what was going on in the kitchen: Rats? Cockroaches? A cook sneezing on the Caesar salad?

“These were the images people were getting,” said Higgins, an assistant manager at Shaker’s, a steak and salad restaurant on Fair Oaks Avenue. “Even though the health department said a B was fine, the public got the idea that you had some of these problems.”

Now, he and other restaurateurs in South Pasadena are getting a reprieve. The City Council voted 3 to 2 Wednesday night to get rid of an 8-month-old law requiring restaurants to post letter grades after inspections by county health officials.

South Pasadena was among 53 cities in Los Angeles County to adopt the posting rules since the county recommended them in 1997. Now, South Pasadena is the first city to revoke such an ordinance, although inspections will continue, with results available on the Internet or at county health department offices. The restaurants will not have to provide their scores to patrons.

“It’s as if back in high school, the school said you don’t have to show your report card to your parents any more,” said Councilman Paul Zee, who voted to keep the ordinance. “The whole county is moving forward and South Pasadena is moving backward.”

The local law was written after the county Board of Supervisors decided two years ago to require restaurants in unincorporated areas to post grades, and suggested that municipalities do likewise. Only eight cities have rejected the idea, and 25 are still considering it.

South Pasadena’s City Council adopted it in August, with a 3-2 vote, but the rule lost one of its supporters in the March election.

A city-commissioned report on the issue made no conclusions about losses in revenue.

Still, many restaurant owners complained that customers might drift away to neighboring San Marino and Pasadena, which had no such rule and where imaginations weren’t sent spinning by posted B and C grades.

“I think if all L.A. County had to do it, it would be fair,” said South Pasadena Mayor Pro Tem Dorothy Cohen, who voted to rescind the law. “It was kind of a punitive ordinance that was inconsistent with the city’s policy of promoting business.”

Cohen added that restaurants were often dinged for small housekeeping mistakes, such as keeping a broom in the wrong place. “An A grade can be reduced to a B for a violation that doesn’t have the slightest effect on the food,” she said.

Higgins said his latest B came as the result of some chili being too cold, some oil residue crusted on the bottom of a pot, a misaligned drawer, a bathroom fan that didn’t work, and some missing light fixtures.

If owners didn’t like their grade, they could pay $161 for an unannounced follow-up within two weeks. Otherwise, they usually had to wait about four months for the next routine inspection.

Joe Nash, a county environmental health services manager, said a B is a good grade.

Nevertheless, Nash said the grade usually means that inspectors have found some food-related problems, whether they are with sanitation, temperature or preparation.

Nash, who spoke on behalf of the letter postings at this week’s South Pasadena council meeting, said he was surprised by the vote.

“There’s very strong public support for the ordinance,” he said.

Nash added that South Pasadena rated better than most of the county, with 75% of 73 food establishments getting A’s, compared with 68% countywide.

Some South Pasadena restaurant managers said they liked the grading system. Mike Alashti, a manager at Carrows on Fremont Avenue, said he was heckled by his customers for his B grade, but that it didn’t hurt business. He said the system was a good way to ensure that restaurants stay clean.

He did complain that the system was erratic--some inspectors would deduct points for a violation and others would not. Alashti said he often argued to no avail.

“When my customers asked me why I got a B, I said it was because I yelled at the health department guy,” he said.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who wrote the county ordinance, expressed outrage at South Pasadena’s action.

“It’s absurd to shut down an effective public health program that helps the quality of a restaurant,” he said. “This [ordinance] is no more than an attempt to inform the public.”