Jerry's Billiards, Pasadena, CA - Another one biting the dust?

[maha]

think about if you lived near it and wasnt a pool player wouldnt you want it to be closed late at night. most would. and the most are the ones who get to decide zoning requirements as they elect or appoint the officials who do their bidding.

what is right or wrong isnt always the deciding issue.

and if his business is really a good one then he can move and prosper in a better location. that unfortunately is his only choice, or to move on in life.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Cool. I've lived in the Pasadena area continuously since 1978 and I'm in Pasadena proper almost daily.

IMO, Jerry's isn't winning their appeal and with limited operating hours, will ultimately close down. There's a saying that "nothing good happens after midnight" and I'm sure Bungalow Heaven and the surrounding neighborhoods believe this to be true and have pointed to the lone business open "after hours" as the root of "nothing good".

Well something is fish with City change hour, does the operator of Pool Room own building?

Has the Pool had frequent visit from the local Cops, if they have, and serve any alcohol now you have Liquor police snooping.

Too many calls for service from Police make your business target for shut down, or other thing like cutting hour of operation. Too force shut down.

Sure City of Pasadena could care if they had Pool Room, or not.

 

[rexus31]

Meeting has started. I don't think they have a chance.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Meeting has started. I don't think they have a chance.

View attachment 671400

Hope for the people with most too loose, something productive can be accomplished.

 

[rexus31]

The commissioners were very understanding toward the plight of the room owner, the landlord and the surrounding neighborhood. The issue stems from many disturbance calls surrounding illegal activity in the parking lot behind the pool room that is in very close proximity to the residential neighborhood. It turns out the owner of Jerry's Billiards submitted a Code of Compliance form with the city in 2017 where it states his operating hours were from 9am-10pm. This is where the 10pm closing time comes from. He denies filling in those hours and alleges someone in City Hall filled that in after he signed and submitted the form. It is very apparent the root of all the upheaval is not the pool hall itself or even it being open to 1am or 1:30am. The problem as pointed out by the commissioners is the parking lot. Interestingly enough, the lot is leased by the City of Pasadena from the land owner. The general consensus was if the parking lot were closed and access denied, the resident's concerns would be alleviated. It's possible. In the end, they did not deny or overturn the appeal but voted for a continuance on the matter under the stipulation city officials, the business owner, the landlord and the neighborhood association meet to reach an agreement on the issue. As it stands now, Jerry's will be forced to continue to close at 10pm until January at the earliest. We will see what happens. I think they should close the parking lot at 10pm and allow Jerry's to operate under normal business hours and see what happens.

 

[Bishop]

It’s not this guys job to police a parking lot especially if the disturbances aren’t directly from his hall.

He’ll need to weigh the cost but perhaps a security guard and some high quality cameras would go a long way in deterring problems.

 

[couldnthinkof01]

If they have several disturbance calls, wouldn't they know exactly who the problem is?

 

[Bavafongoul]

Arrange for a sign saying the lot closes at 10 PM posted; cars will be towed parked beyond closing time.
It should also state it is unlawful to assemble or otherwise be on this private property after the lot closes.

Have the police patrol the area actively for the first 30 days and enforce these restrictions. Word will spread
fast. Arrange for a private tow company to swing by when in the area and hook up any cars they see parked
after the lot closes. It is just extra tow income for those tow company operators when they can hook up a car.

Think about using a video camera to record people who meet or assemble there and provide info to the police
if it is ever needed in case of a crime or a complaint gets lodged. Become more pro-active and it will get better.

 

[tomatoshooter]

It turns out the owner of Jerry's Billiards submitted a Code of Compliance form with the city in 2017 where it states his operating hours were from 7am-10pm. This is where the 10pm closing time comes from. He denies filling in those hours and alleges someone in City Hall filled that in after he signed and submitted the form.

I saw it the original article that it appeared Jerrys had previously agreed to the hours, this clears that up. There are three possibilities here.
Jerry's signed the form with no intent of actually complying with the hours
Jerry's signed the form and didn't notice the hours
Someone at city hall filled in places on the form that were incomplete, either through incompetence or deception.

I'd be genuinely surprised if a pool hall owner voluntarily agreed to those hours, especially since he clearly didn't intend to follow them.

Looking at the map, I'm not sure where people will park if the lot is closed.

 

[buckshotshoey]

All of them that are subject to Section 17.40.070 of the Pasadena Zoning Code.

I know the area well, having lived here my whole life and have been to Jerry's several times. I don't really care for the place, but that's another issue all together. They are the only business in the area open past 10pm. The area where the pool hall is located is not the best part of town but, it isn't the worst either. Perhaps this is a move attempting to lower the crime rate in the area. Just spitballing on this one but Jerry's is adjacent to a very famous Historical Neighborhood: Bungalow Heaven (https://www.bungalowheaven.org). The leadership of the neighborhood association may or may not have some clout at City Hall or have complained about an increase in crime and are pointing to the pool hall as the source. It's possible this is where it all started.

View attachment 671175

Exactly! My question was rhetorical. It's not just pool halls they are putting under their thumb. Self sufficient people seem to be scourges of their society.

 

[buckshotshoey]

Arrange for a sign saying the lot closes at 10 PM posted; cars will be towed parked beyond closing time.
It should also state it is unlawful to assemble or otherwise be on this private property after the lot closes.

Have the police patrol the area actively for the first 30 days and enforce these restrictions. Word will spread
fast. Arrange for a private tow company to swing by when in the area and hook up any cars they see parked
after the lot closes. It is just extra tow income for those tow company operators when they can hook up a car.

Think about using a video camera to record people who meet or assemble there and provide info to the police
if it is ever needed in case of a crime or a complaint gets lodged. Become more pro-active and it will get better.

Here's an idea.... if the police are going to be watching the lot anyway, why not set up nightly sting operations to get the bad guys off the street, instead of punishing everyone? I guess that makes too much sense. But I guess most will never be prosecuted anyway, so what's the point? Nothing will get better until people have to pay for their bad decisions.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Now we know the real story, sure Cops in Pasadena are like Cop s as everywhere, undermanned, and busy.


Police don’t have time to be proactive, just reactive. No time to look for possible crimes, just answe call for service.

 

[rexus31]

Arrange for a sign saying the lot closes at 10 PM posted; cars will be towed parked beyond closing time.
It should also state it is unlawful to assemble or otherwise be on this private property after the lot closes.

Have the police patrol the area actively for the first 30 days and enforce these restrictions. Word will spread
fast. Arrange for a private tow company to swing by when in the area and hook up any cars they see parked
after the lot closes. It is just extra tow income for those tow company operators when they can hook up a car.

Think about using a video camera to record people who meet or assemble there and provide info to the police
if it is ever needed in case of a crime or a complaint gets lodged. Become more pro-active and it will get better.

I think this is what may happen as it was tossed around by the commissioners more than once. I think it's a good start. Whenever I went there, I'd always park on Lake Ave. That parking lot has been shady for decades. The owner of a neighboring business was stabbed and killed there several years ago. It got a little better when they installed lights, but not much.

I saw it the original article that it appeared Jerrys had previously agreed to the hours, this clears that up. There are three possibilities here.
Jerry's signed the form with no intent of actually complying with the hours
Jerry's signed the form and didn't notice the hours
Someone at city hall filled in places on the form that were incomplete, either through incompetence or deception.

I'd be genuinely surprised if a pool hall owner voluntarily agreed to those hours, especially since he clearly didn't intend to follow them.

Looking at the map, I'm not sure where people will park if the lot is closed.

The owner spoke to this and said he would have never put those hours down for his business and recalls never seeing or writing hours of operation on the form. One commissioner said (while looking at the document) it appears the hours and other parts of the form were not written by the same hand.

We will see what happens. It just sucks they have to continue to close early until January, at the earliest.

 

[rexus31]

Here's the deck from the Zoom meeting.

 

[Bishop]

That conclusion is bullshit.

At this point with them acknowledging the signature on the hours appears inconsistent with the rest of the signed document I'd sue them for fraud.

There is really no basis for those hours. None whatsoever.

 

[rexus31]

That conclusion is bullshit.

At this point with them acknowledging the signature on the hours appears inconsistent with the rest of the signed document I'd sue them for fraud.

There is really no basis for those hours. None whatsoever.

Agreed. We will see what happens.

 

[Dan_B]

They are appealing the decision that's already been made. League play is during the week so I doubt they can make adjustments. In the past, I've played APA matches that started at 7pm and ended at 1am. They'd have to start when people are still at work to have adequate time for league matches.

That would be a long night for this kid.
Don't know the APA format; keeping the same game? possibly insert a half-time, having it play out over 2 league nights, creative players should come up with something.
...damn parking lots.

That is a neat, well done, add to your table gig.

 

[rexus31]

That would be a long night for this kid.
Don't know the APA format; keeping the same game? possibly insert a half-time, having it play out over 2 league nights, creative players should come up with something.
...damn parking lots.

It was a late night for me too. It was one out of about 100 reasons I decided to stop playing APA. I dabble in the BCA once in a while. A friend is the local BCA League Operator out of The Cue Ball in Alhambra, CA which is literally 1/4 mile from my house. The latest I've left a BCA league night was 11pm and that was because we were playing the slowest team (and player) in the league.

That is a neat, well done, add to your table gig.

Thanks, man! I dig it. It looks great and works even better.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

That conclusion is bullshit.

At this point with them acknowledging the signature on the hours appears inconsistent with the rest of the signed document I'd sue them for fraud.

There is really no basis for those hours. None whatsoever.

So it is said hard to fight City Hall, unless you have money to influence city fathers.

Sad that the City did what they did but not unexpected.


Small business ownership is sometimes not worth aggravation.

 

[moviepool]

I play at Jerry’s sometimes and it really sucks what happened with them. I like going there too since they have very challenging tables, 4” pockets on the gold crowns and Diamond 9’.