SIMI VALLEY : Group Asks Council for 2 Bingo Days

A Simi Valley charitable organization that provides horseback-riding lessons for the physically and mentally impaired has asked the city’s permission to continue holding two bingo games a week to raise money.

Jacques Fouchaux, director of the Institute of Equestrian Therapy, said he asked the Simi Valley City Council to extend its exemption to a city ordinance that prohibits charities from holding more than one bingo game per week.

He said he requested the extension for two more years to give him time to find other sources of funding for the nonprofit group.

Brian Gabler, assistant to Simi Valley’s city manager, said he has received the institute’s request and plans to forward it to the City Council for action at its June 25 meeting.

“There’s no denying that the services that the equestrian program provides are beneficial,” Gabler said. “That’s not the issue. The issue is equity for all organizations which hold bingos.”

The city passed its limitation on bingo games in 1989 in an effort to prevent large bingo operations from taking business away from smaller ones.

At the time, the City Council allowed the equestrian institute to hold games on Friday and Saturday nights for a year--until it could find other sources of income. The extention ran out on June 1 and the institute is now holding games on Friday nights only.

Fouchaux said he has been unsuccessful in lining up money for the center in the past year and he said he will need another two years to locate a new source of revenue. More than 30 organizations have turned down his request for grants, he said.

Fouchaux said the center may be forced to close if it is not allowed to hold two games a week. “We can’t pay just half of our mortgage or rent, or feed the horses just half of what they usually eat,” he said.

Fouchaux said the state used to subsidize its operations, but has cut back on grants in recent years. The institute turned to bingo for added revenue six years ago.