No-Delivery Policy Not Racist, Says Domino's -- Central Area Off- Limits For Safety, Chain Says

Central Area resident Robert Keys calls it discrimination.

R.Y. Woodhouse, the president of the Metropolitan Seattle Urban League, worries that it will isolate African Americans, turning Seattle into a divided city like Detroit.

But Domino's Pizza says it's a question of employee safety, not racial discrimination.

The issue: Domino's 2-month-old policy against delivering to parts of Seattle's Central Area.

The company made the decision because of ``10 to 15'' robberies and assaults on drivers in the area this year, said Mike Taylor, regional manager of Domino's.

Still, the policy angers Keys, who says a Domino's clerk told him, `` `We don't deliver in the black neighborhoods after dark,' '' when Keys called to order a pizza a few nights ago.

Keys, 54, said he had experienced discrimination as a young man, but ``I thought things had changed.''

Domino's is not alone, however. Other companies who offer home delivery of fast food say driver safety is a problem for them, too.

Pizza Hut stopped delivering after dark to Southeast Seattle's Holly Park housing project about

2 1/2 years ago and limited delivery to business addresses in Tacoma's high-crime Hilltop area about a year ago, said Faye McLamb.

Even Ezell's Fried Chicken, a prominent black-owned business, fears attacks on its drivers. Although the company will deliver large orders anywhere, plans to expand delivery into the Central Area are on hold because of the potential danger, said Lewis Rudd, company president.

``I'm not going to fool myself or anyone else and not say there is potential danger there,'' said Rudd. The company delivers primarily in the North End from its University District store.

The policy has brought complaints from Central Area residents, but some understand when the reason for the policy is explained, Rudd said.

Domino's stopped delivering to an area bounded by East Union and South Dearborn streets between 19th and 31st avenues, said Alicia Galaviz, an employee of the Madison Park Domino's who said she has twice been robbed in the area.

Police also recognize the problem.

``There are robberies of pizza drivers that occur occasionally,'' said Lt. Bruce White of the Seattle Police robbery unit, adding that most of them have been in the Central Area and Rainier Valley. A couple of times, delivery trucks or cars have been taken, he said.

Concern for employee safety, not racial discrimination, was the motivation for Domino's delivery ban, Taylor said.

Sales are down at the Madison Park outlet, and the policy has hurt the company financially, Taylor said. The effect of the policy has been like ``shooting myself in the foot,'' he added, saying he hoped the restriction would be temporary.

Don McNutt of Godfather's Pizza said his company does not restrict delivery to any particular area because of crime. However, some apartment buildings where drivers have been ``set up'' for robberies are off-limits. But they are scattered from Lynnwood to Tacoma, he said.

Domino's worst problems are at apartment buildings, said Taylor.

Keys lives in an apartment in the 2600 block of South Washington Street. He and his two sons had gotten together to say goodbye - at least for a while - when they tried to order the pizza. Keys' son, Robert Loy, 20, who is in the army, was on a stopover in Seattle on his way to Saudi Arabia.

His other son, Malcolm Loy, 19, a Garfield High School senior who has enlisted in the Navy, may be headed there soon, said Keys.

``How would I feel if they got killed and when they were home in America they couldn't even buy a pizza?'' Keys asked.

Whatever the reason for the no-delivery policy, Woodhouse, the Metropolitan Seattle Urban League president, worries that it will be bad for Seattle. The isolation of the Central Area or other minority neighborhoods could divide the city into haves and have-nots, she warned.

``It's really a bad sign, because it says we're rapidly moving toward some of the aspects of armed-camp living as it is back in the East and Midwest,'' said Woodhouse.

The Urban League would like to meet with Domino's officials and others to seek a solution, Woodhouse said.

``Something's got to be done about it,'' said Keys, who is taking his complaint to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

``We'll look into it and we'll take the appropriate action,'' said Lacy Steele, local NAACP president.

Meanwhile, the crime problem may be easing, said Rudd.

``Community people are getting involved in trying to take the situation in hand,'' he said, referring to neighborhood crime-watch programs.

Seattle police earlier this week reported a reduction in gang-related shootings over the past six months. Many of those shootings were taking place in Central and Southeast Seattle neighborhoods.