Eureka Considers Relaxing Card Room Rules

Move seen as leveling playing field with Indian casinos

Humboldt Sentinel
1/2/09
By Charles Douglas

EUREKA -- In an apparent move to bolster Eureka’s tourism and entertainment sectors in the emerging economic depression, the City Council is set to consider the removal of rules pertaining to gambling-lite facilities known as card rooms at their meeting Tuesday.

The move was spurred by a letter penned by Thomas Bruner, the owner of T & T Gaming, LLC of Eureka. He specifically requested amendments to the Eureka Municipal Code to remove limits on the hours of operation and the requirement to provide on-site private security. Current rules, Bruner claims, create an unfair business environment for city card rooms as they must compete with local Indian casinos.

Card rooms are already strictly regulated by state law to preclude the presence of many gambling devices, as well as games where the bets are made against the house. Casinos in Blue Lake, Trinidad and Loleta operate under state Indian gaming compacts as authorized by federal law -- and are operated by sovereign tribes.

Current rules prohibit the operation of any card room within Eureka during the hours of 2 a.m. and 10 a.m., weekend mornings excepted. With the nod of city attorney Sheryl Schaffner and after consultation with police chief Garr Nielsen, staff is recommending amendments which would eliminate the morning hour limits and remove the permanent on-site security guard requirement with a regulation necessitating Eureka Police Department approval of an electronic security and surveillance system.

Green Building Program debate

Although no action is contemplated in an otherwise light agenda for Jan. 6, Eureka officials are sure to make their preferences known on a request from the Redwood Coast Energy Authority for the city to begin participation in a volunteer-driven Green Building Program.

Hurdles already foreseen to the project, which would involve all local cities in a joint effort administered by the RCEA, revolve chiefly around funding questions. Staff admit as much to Council in their report, stating that the project will depend largely on the successful acquisition of grant funding to get off the ground.

Green building, according to the RCEA, is a “whole systems approach” to the design, construction and operation of buildings that reduces their demand for energy and water by encouraging conservation, reducing waste, increasing efficiency, making buildings more durable and promoting human health. City staff suggest convening a “Green Team” across various departments to review current policies and match them to a Green Building Code of voluntary standards produced at the state level.

In other news

Officials are almost certain to adopt a contract upgrading the Eureka Fire Department public address system, at a cost estimated at $48,000. Councilmembers are also likely to vote to waive permit fees associated with the Dixieland Jazz Festival coming up in March.