Casino Proposal Appears Headed for April Vote : Gambling: Backers say the development would create jobs and add to city revenues. Skeptics point out the region is saturated with gaming facilities.

By JILL GOTTESMAN

Dec. 31, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LYNWOOD — A proposal to establish another card casino in the Southeast area appears headed for the ballot in Lynwood.

Proponents led by a local minister last week submitted to the city clerk’s office a petition containing more than 2,000 signatures, almost double the number needed to put the issue of gambling in the city on the ballot. A city ordinance requires that any gambling proposal be put to a public vote.

“We did it without any of the opposition the people in City Hall had warned us about,” the Rev. Charles L. Floyd said. The Lynwood pastor began gathering signatures in September, going door to door throughout the city’s neighborhoods, offering a community plagued by high unemployment the promise of hundreds of new jobs.

The casino is part of an ambitious development plan that Floyd has drawn up in recent weeks. The project, which would cost more than $500 million, would also include a hotel and shops, a convention center and a theme park, all in different areas of the city.

Floyd said he believes a privately owned 30-acre parcel of land on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near the Long Beach Freeway would provide an ideal location for the casino and hotel portion of the project.

But the minister acknowledged he has not conducted extensive research or put together a formal business plan. He said his research involved “getting out here in the community and talking to the people of Lynwood. And they want something like this.”

Floyd, 53, has been pastor at the Second Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church since 1966. In addition to ministering his 60-member congregation, Floyd said he has dabbled in real estate and stocks since he moved to California from Texas in 1958.

He said he has not secured any financing for the project, although he has corresponded with several investment groups such as Kidder, Peabody & Co. The EMCO/Hanover Group and Merrill Lynch. He declined to describe their level of interest.

“They have looked at the plan, and now they are waiting to see if there is something marketable,” Floyd said. “Once there is an election won and contract signed, we will start serious negotiations.”

If approved and financed, the casino portion of the plan could open as early as the end of 1994, Floyd said. He is pursuing the project as a businessman and expects to get 15% to 20% of the profit for developing the plan, but he says the developers and the community will get their fair share of the revenues.

A special election to determine whether Lynwood residents favor a casino is likely to be held in April, said deputy City Clerk Rita Manibusan. She said the clerk’s office will begin checking signatures on the petitions next week. The petitions then will be submitted to the registrar’s office for verification.

Even if Lynwood voters do endorse gambling, at least one city official is skeptical about Floyd’s ability to get financing and to bring the project to fruition.

“I wish them luck, but I just don’t think in these economic conditions that he will be able to get the project off the ground,” Councilman Armando Rea said.

Rea and Councilman Louis J. Heine also question the viability of bringing another gambling parlor into an area in which three casinos are operating, one card club has closed and two others are in various stages of development.

“There’s so much competition, I just don’t think they will be able to bring in enough money,” Heine said. “But I won’t fight against it. We need the money.”

Casinos are operating in Bell Gardens, Commerce and Huntington Park. A card club in Bell closed in August, and its state gambling license has expired. The Compton City Council earlier this month approved a controversial proposal to build a $9-million casino project. A club was built in Cudahy in 1989 but ran into a number of snags and has yet to open.

Based on revenues from some of the more profitable clubs in surrounding areas, Floyd estimates a Lynwood casino would generate $6 million per year for the city. The Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens paid $10.8 million to Bell Gardens last year, based on a graduated scale of 8.2% to 13.2% of the club’s gross revenues. The City of Commerce received $10.2 million in revenues last year from the Commerce casino.

But the closure of the Regency Club in Bell has cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenues.

Floyd acknowledged that some church leaders in Lynwood oppose casinos, arguing that gaming parlors would foster immoral activity and bring more crime to the city. Floyd said he is just being realistic about the financial potential of gambling.

“There is not a church in Lynwood that is not against going to City Hall with their hands out begging for money to do some social program,” he said. “If we allow gambling in our city, preachers would no longer have to go out with hat in hand.”

But the Rev. Louis Chase of the Lynwood United Methodist Church said Floyd’s plan is “inexcusable, for selfish gain,” and added that “gambling does not promote the kind of values that are fit for a mature and responsible community.”

If approved, a percentage of the card club’s gross income would be set aside for public purposes, with the remainder going toward operating expenses and paying off loans.

Floyd is proposing that 10% of the casino’s gross profits go to the city coffers. But City Manager Laurence H. Adams Sr. said the percentage of revenues for the city would be negotiated with casino operators.

His proposal also would allocate another 2% for equipment and staffing at public, private and parochial schools in Lynwood; 2% for a day-care center for children and facility for senior citizens, and 2% for social and recreational programs organized through church and community groups. These funds would be administered through a nonprofit agency, Floyd said.