Skid Row Hotel’s Fine Is Distributed

A mission for the homeless, a legal aid group and the Los Angeles Police Department have each received a portion of the $250,000 that owners of a troubled skid row hotel paid to settle the city’s lawsuit against it.

The money was paid by the Frontier Hotel, a single-room-occupancy hotel that, according to police, had long been the site of drug activity. In 2002, the city filed a lawsuit against the owners, attempting to encourage them to curb drug-related activity at the hotel. The following year, a judge issued a permanent injunction against the hotel, ordering it to implement several improvements.

The settlement put an end to the lawsuit -- and put funds into the accounts of organizations that assist the same population that frequents hotels like the Frontier.

“In our efforts to improve housing conditions in the city, we always look for creative solutions that have a lasting impact on the quality of life in Los Angeles,” Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said in a statement.

The hotel owners could not be reached for comment.

At a groundbreaking ceremony held Friday, Delgadillo presented the board of directors of the Midnight Mission with a $25,000 check that will be used to help build a new facility.

The facility “hopefully will help pull another 100 people off our streets and out of cardboard boxes,” said Larry Adamson, president and CEO of the mission.

“A lot of our clients are people that were residents in that facility and are struggling with sobriety.”

The largest slice of the Frontier Hotel settlement will go into the city’s general fund. The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles received $50,000 to help provide legal services to the poor. The Los Angeles Police Department’s narcotics abatement unit received $19,289.

The distribution Friday was the second major distribution in the last two months. In November, Delgadillo announced a $1-million settlement of a lawsuit filed against CitiMortgage. In that case, the city sued the company over the 14 properties in disrepair that CitiMortgage acquired through foreclosure.

Under the settlement, CitiMortgage will donate $700,000 to the California Community Foundation. The money will be used to develop and maintain affordable housing.

The city’s general fund received $300,000.