Riverside Might Ease City Hall Security

The airport-style security at Riverside City Hall, in place since a gunman opened fire and wounded several people there in 1998, may be on its way out.

The City Council is expected to vote today to scrap a metal detector, X-ray system and other security measures at the City Hall entrance, which cost nearly half a million dollars annually.

The vote will come at the first meeting since the retirement of three council members who were on the panel at the time of the shooting and who favored keeping the security measures. The members who replaced them have all expressed support for getting rid of the system.

“I can certainly understand why the former council had it installed,” said incoming Ward 1 Councilman Dom Betro. “It’s time now to move on and be more inviting to citizens.”

The measures were installed about a year after the 1998 shooting, when former city chess coach Joseph Neale Jr. held Mayor Ron Loveridge and five council members prisoner in the council chambers following his dismissal and the dismantling of the chess program. In the ensuing shootout, five elected officials, three police officers and Neale were wounded.

To enter City Hall, visitors must pass through a metal detector and pass their bags through an X-ray machine. Some are checked a second time with hand-held metal detectors. A police officer and security guards oversee the process.

Some council members have complained that the security measures are too costly, are off-putting to the public and are unnecessary. A proposal to get rid of the measures first came before council in 2002, when it was defeated by a 4-3 vote.

But three of the four people who voted to keep the security retired last week.

The proposal that will be discussed today would eliminate the metal detector and X-ray system and reduce the amount of security personnel. If approved, the cuts will go into effect March 11, and further security discussions would be referred to a council committee. These measures are proposed by council members Frank Schiavone and Nancy Hart, who were not on the council at the time of the attack, and Loveridge, who was wounded in the shooting.