Council OKs Tough Rules in Gaslamp Blight Battle

A series of restrictive regulations aimed at wiping out the sleaze and decay in downtown’s Gaslamp Quarter won unanimous approval of the City Council Tuesday.

The wide-ranging provisions will force video arcades and card rooms in the 16-block area south of Broadway out of business in one year, and allow off-sale liquor stores to remain open only between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Dilapidated and abandoned buildings will face condemnation unless rehabilitated, under the new regulations.

The purpose, made clear by Gaslamp executive Art Skolnik, is to clean up the city’s former tenderloin area and convert it into a tourist attraction with a turn-of-the-century atmosphere by the time the neighboring Horton Plaza shopping center opens in August.

Councilman Uvaldo Martinez, whose district includes the downtown area, said Tuesday he thinks the the Gaslamp Quarter, especially 4th Avenue across from the $140-million shopping mall now under construction, could be sanitized and cleared of any criminal activities within six months.

The new regulations are expected to take effect in about six weeks.

Bracing for Lawsuits

Only one Gaslamp businessman, Michael Mahoney, a card room owner, protested the new restrictions during Tuesday’s public hearing. City attorneys said privately, however, that the legal department is bracing for lawsuits by affected property owners and business operators once the new restrictions are applied.

Beefed-up condemnation powers and a new city permit system are each designed to rid the area of most of its adult entertainment establishments which, for the past decade, have competed successfully with their more conservative neighbors, often proving to be more financially stable than the restaurants and shops catering to tourists and downtown workers.

Any new business or any business seeking to redecorate or expand must obtain a permit from the city, which can cancel it--forcing the business to close down--if the city finds the business to be “detrimental or injurious to . . . the health, safety, peace, morals, comfort, or general welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood.”

Mahoney, half-owner of the Montecarlo Cardroom on 4th Avenue, protested that the city had promised he and his partner in 1979 that they could continue to operate their business as long as they lived.

“Now you are saying that we will have to go out of business in one year,” Mahoney complained. “It’s not fair to pick on just us.”

Concern Over Card Rooms

City planning commissioners, who reviewed the Gaslamp Quarter ordinances last month and approved them unanimously, also expressed concern over the Gaslamp card rooms, suggesting to the City Council that the four businesses be allowed to relocate outside of the historic district and continue to operate for the next 8.5 years--the phase-out period imposed on all card rooms in the city.

Councilman Bill Cleator expressed concern that the businesses that will be forced to close under the new ordinances might have the right to challenge the city for putting them out of business, but other council members refused to soften the regulations to extend the life of the non-conforming operations beyond one year.

The Gaslamp regulations exclude most “adult entertainment” activities--peep shows, X-rated movie theaters, “adult” bookstores, massage parlors, go-go night clubs and topless bars--from the list of “permitted uses” in the area, and severely restrict other business operations.

Off-sale alcoholic beverages, for instance, can only be sold in food stores, delicatessens, drug stores or restaurants and only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. No chilled or refrigerated alcoholic beverages may be sold and none can be sold in small containers or quantities. Anyone wanting to buy a warm beer, for instance, would have to purchase a warm six-pack.