DOWNTOWN : City Upholds Closure of Carousel Recycling

As its name implies, the embattled Carousel Recycling Center continues to go ‘round and ‘round in its fight with the city.

Last week, the city Board of Zoning Appeals upheld a zoning administrator’s earlier decision ordering the recycling center at 612-614 E. 7th St. to be closed. The administrator ruled that Carousel is a public nuisance that has failed to curb its crime and trash problems.

The center’s attorney, Harold J. Light, said he will appeal to the City Council and proceed with a lawsuit to fight city-ordered improvements that he said are unreasonable and unfair.

Local residents, business owners and police officers say the recycling center is directly responsible for scores of homeless people who loiter, litter, urinate, drink alcohol, and engage in drug activity and prostitution in the neighborhood. City zoning officials in February ordered the center to hire a security guard and clean up after and shoo away loitering customers, or face closure.

In August, neighbors and police officers complained to Associate Zoning Administrator Jon Perica that the center had not complied with any of the city’s conditions. The opponents called for relocating or closing the center on the grounds that its customers continued to crowd the streets and that drug activity, prostitution, and burglaries of nearby businesses and cars remained high.

Perica ordered the center to shut down and gave the city Building and Safety Department the power to revoke the center’s permits if the operator did not close voluntarily. Light appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals, which reviewed the matter at a hearing last week.

Light has consistently contended that the center has been unfairly blamed for the neighborhood’s ills by area property owners who refuse to help solve the problems. He accused opponents of being against recycling efforts and helping the homeless.

According to Light, center operator Ruy Gomez has taken steps to improve conditions, such as hiring an additional employee to clean surrounding streets and encourage loitering customers to move. But the attorney said the center has not complied with other conditions, including hiring a security guard and establishing a 24-hour hot line to field complaints, because they are too costly for the small center.

Light also said his efforts to meet with neighbors on behalf of Gomez, who speaks limited English, have been rebuffed.

Before its unanimous vote to close Carousel, Zoning Appeals board members expressed exasperation with the center’s refusal to comply with the conditions.

“I’m very hesitant to close down businesses,” said Joyce Perkins, board vice chairwoman. “But I can’t understand why this hasn’t been taken more seriously by the owner.”