SAN FERNANDO : City Won’t Ask Stores at Mall to Close Early

Shops located on the city of San Fernando side of La Rinda Plaza--including a liquor store, a restaurant and a grocery store--will not be required to close earlier, a condition imposed by the city of Los Angeles on stores located on its side of the shopping mall.

But the San Fernando City Council on Monday endorsed other security measures enacted by the plaza’s management at the request of Los Angeles in July--locking parking lot gates at night, installing more lighting, maintaining a police substation at the mall and converting pay phones to make them usable only for outgoing calls.

La Rinda Plaza is situated partially in Los Angeles and partially in San Fernando.

San Fernando store owners were happy with the decision, but some nearby residents said all businesses should close by 10 p.m. to cut down on cruising and other problems caused by teen-agers who hang out at the shopping center.

Security measures were taken in response to rising levels of crime, cruising, noise and vandalism at the shopping center at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Workman Street. The plaza was once a notorious nighttime hangout for hundreds of youths, including gang members, who cruised the center, creating traffic, noise and other disturbances that sometimes led to violence.

The conditions imposed on stores on the Los Angeles side in July included closing by 10 p.m.

Some San Fernando residents and store owners said Monday night that the security actions taken so far--especially locking the parking lot gates at night--are working. But they asked the council not to limit operating hours on the San Fernando side because some businesses would be hurt. “The businesses on the Los Angeles side of the plaza were not adversely affected (by the limited operating hours),” said Paul Charon, general manager of Pay Less Foods, which stays open until 11 p.m. “With our business, that’s not the case. People buy food late at night.”

Attorneys representing the owner of La Nueva Copa Granada, a restaurant and bar on the San Fernando side, threatened to sue the city if it changed its operating permit by requiring it to close at 10 p.m. The bar is open until 2 a.m.

“We disagree that liquor sales have anything to do with the problems at La Rinda Plaza,” said Gregory M. Kunert, who spoke on behalf of Pancho Valenzuela, owner of the La Nueva Copa Granada. “The problem at La Rinda Plaza was with the cruising.”

San Fernando ultimately decided not to require stores on its side to close by 10 p.m. because it cannot legally do so, according to the city’s legal counsel, Julia Silva.

Silva explained that Los Angeles, as a charter law city, or city that sets its own governing rules, has the power to change permits restricting operating hours. But San Fernando, as a general law city, may only impose restrictions on business permits if there is a proven threat to the “health, welfare or safety” of the public.

Some residents were disappointed by the council’s decision.

“To allow the sale of liquor late at night only enhances the problems we’ve had at La Rinda Plaza,” said Mary C. Mejia, who lives near the shopping center. “Those of you who don’t live here don’t deal with the problems.”