The 777 Cyber Cafe's lawyer said it had ample parking, good security did not encroach on neighbors at the Five Town Plaza.
FILE – The scene inside a cyber cafe on Worthington Street in Springfield.SPRINGFIELD – After nearly two hours of wrangling, the City Council Monday postponed a decision on granting a special permit to the 777 Cyber Center at Five Town Plaza.
City Councilor Timothy J. Rooke withdrew a motion to allow 30 computers at the 296 Cooley St. cyber cafe after councilor Kateri B. Walsh said more information was needed.
Instead, the council voted to refer the permit request for study by its economic development subcommittee. The cafe was ordered to shut down by the city three weeks ago until it obtained a special permit.
The council’s vote Monday came after the cafe’s permit request and the larger issue of sweepstakes gambling and Internet cafes touched off a spirited debate by residents and councilors. Springfield lawyer Thomas J. Rooke, representing the cafe, said the business had operated without any trouble before the city decided it needed a special permit.
The site has ample parking, good security and does not encroach on neighbors living near the plaza, according to Rooke, who urged councilors to take a vote on the request, rather than refer it for study.
Opponents, including members of the Outer Belt Civic Association, said the operation bordered on gambling, and posed many of the same risks to city residents.
They also warned that giving a permit to the 777 Cyber Cafe could set a precedent that other would-be cafe owners could exploit.
City Solicitor Edwdard M. Pikula urged the council to continue the hearing, rather than referring it to subcommittee, to give time for city planners to submit findings on the cafe’s operation and potential impact on the neighborhood.
Without those findings, any decision on the special permit would be vulnerable to a legal challenge in court, Pikula said.
The council voted down Pikula’s recommendation to continue the hearing, and was poised to vote on Rooke’s motion to grant the permit, with a series of conditions, when Walsh and several other councilors objected.
Like a number of Internet cafes around the area, the 777 Cyber Center offers people a chance to purchase time on the Internet, and encourages them to play various games of chance that offer cash prizes.
A 2007 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, based on a Hyannis case, determined that such cyber cafes are permissible in Massachusetts. Since then, there has been a proliferation in cyber cafes throughout the state.
But critics, including state Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield, said they are too close to slot parlors, and should be shut down. Rivera has filed a bill to outlaw cyber cafes, arguing that they prey on elderly and low-income residents.