West County Issue / Card Club...

Lynne West, Executive director, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ventura County

The card club is important for our organization because our financial resources have been drastically reduced. We have more than 80 children on our waiting list because of cutbacks from the United Way and the bad state of the economy. We have actually been forced to reduce our staff by two from the previous year. If the card club opens, it will enable us to go back to a regular level of service and provide more assistance to the children who need it. Nonprofit organizations have traditionally relied on the same fund raising year after year, and this is just not working. There’s only so many dinners people can attend and so many golf tournaments they can play in. We don’t want to rely solely on these fund-raisers or on the card club. We want to have a balance on where our funds are coming from. This idea is a lot like the lottery, which provides for education, or bingo games, which provide for churches.

Julie Speakman, Hollywood Beach resident

Hollywood Beach is a small community, and if Big Brothers/Big Sisters wants to build a card club, they should put it in Oxnard. I’m not against this club, I just think they should put it somewhere else. I don’t want the problems that I have seen in other communities where there are card clubs to come here. The owner of the building seems to be looking for a sustainable business for the building. Big Brothers/Big Sisters stand to only claim 10% of the gross revenues from the gaming tables, and none of the revenues from the restaurant and liquor licenses. Who is actually going to benefit more from this? Three of the reasons that homes break up are drugs, alcohol and gambling. Why is Big Brothers/Big Sisters getting involved in two of those three things? I think it is a very good organization, but there is a problem if they look at their young clients and say, ‘Do as we say and not as we do.’

Michael Wooten, Member of card club management group

From the customer perspective, this is an entertainment option. From the Big Brothers/Big Sisters perspective, it is a method of raising funds to support the organization. Most nonprofits are under a tremendous financial squeeze, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters is no exception. There is no viable way to raise revenues by charging for the service. The kids who are benefiting can’t pay for it, so all the money has to be raised outside the service area. This is a unique way to provide ongoing financial support to the organization through a legally permissible entertainment option. A lot of people enjoy playing cards, but there is really no place in the heart of the population area where they can do so. We want to provide that. Naturally, the kids aren’t going to be involved in the operation of the club--it is an adult facility--but they will certainly benefit from it.

Manuel Lopez, Oxnard city councilman

I cannot unequivocally say that I would vote against the card club at Channel Islands Harbor, because I don’t know what the facts are, but generally I do not believe in gambling. I didn’t even vote for the lottery. I think Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ventura County is a laudable group, and what they are doing is very praiseworthy. The public should definitely be in support of them. They should not have to resort to gambling to generate that support, however. You don’t have to play games with people to get them to support your organization. And gambling is certainly no way to win support either. I don’t know whether this proposal will actually come to the council for permitting or not, but I would probably look at it with a jaundiced eye if it did because of my stance on gambling. I don’t want to prejudge, however, because you have to try to be open and look at things as they come to you.

LeAnn Krier, PTA president, Hollywood Beach School

As much as I like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, I am concerned about the effect this card club would have on our neighborhood. There is a bus stop right around the corner from the proposed site, and I am very concerned as to the effects this could have on our schools. Gambling seems to bring in an element that normally wouldn’t be in the area. All the students who go to Hollywood Beach School live at either Hollywood Beach or Silver Strand, and the place they’re planning to put this establishment is right in the middle of the area. We need to do a lot more investigating before I would feel comfortable with it in our neighborhood. The influence of gambling that the children are going to see every day is definitely a problem. I do not have a problem with them opening a card club in another area, preferably where it would not be around children. Gambling is simply not my first choice of a way to earn money for a good cause.