WESTMINSTER : Tattoo Artist vs. City in Parlor Game

When Orange County filed for bankruptcy Dec. 6, Eusebio (Butch) Garcia figured his days as an employee of Department of Social Services were numbered. So, he decided to pursue his dream of opening his own business.

He drew up a business plan, submitted it to the Planning Commission and, using his savings, signed a lease on a site in Westminster.

But last week Garcia’s dream was squelched when the City Council voted unanimously to uphold the Planning Commission’s decision to deny him a business permit to open a tattoo studio, arguing that the shop would further the deteriorate the neighborhood.

Garcia is now suing the city, seeking $95,000 in damages for the time and money he spent seeking the permit. “They should not be able to get away with this,” he said. “They have no proof that having a tattoo studio in that neighborhood would lower property values.”

In his lawsuit filed April 10 in Orange County Superior Court, Garcia contends that the Planning Commission staff initially had encouraged him and recommended Feb. 25 that his permit be approved. The commission even helped him determine which part of the city would be suitable for his business and extended him a demolition permit to prepare the leased space, the suit alleges.

But after a Feb. 27 public hearing, the commission reversed its decision, said Michael Bouvier, assistant community development director. The commission believed that a tattoo parlor “would attract undesirables and would be detrimental to the surrounding neighborhood,” Bouvier said.

Area residents had been disturbed by last fall’s opening of a topless bar called Scamps, Bouvier said, and said they would not tolerate another establishment that they consider distasteful.

Garcia said he thinks the commission reneged because it was bullied by people who are convinced that tattoo parlors attract criminals and corrupt children by exposing them to undesirable influences. City Councilman Frank Fry echoed that sentiment at last week’s meeting, saying that “more and more people would be impacted by gangs.”

Garcia said he is baffled by the assumption that people who get tattoos are also criminals. “People think my business is the final thing that will plunge this city into immorality,” he said. “There is nothing immoral about a tattoo, and a tattoo studio is a legitimate artistic business.”

Garcia is awaiting a court date.