To Rout Hookers, Council OKs Ban on New Small Motels : Crime: Plans for motels of 40 rooms and fewer to be constructed on certain streets in Inglewood will not be considered for 45 days, to give the City Council a chance to decide on permanent controls.

Inglewood City Council members Tuesday night approved a temporary ban on the construction of small motels in an effort to discourage their use by prostitutes and drug dealers.

The 45-day moratorium stops construction of motels with 40 rooms or fewer on Imperial Highway, South Prairie Avenue, West Century Boulevard and West Manchester Boulevard. It is aimed at giving planning officials time to devise tighter restrictions on motel construction.

“If we approve and upgrade the level of construction, we will also upgrade the level of people that stay there,” said Councilman Garland Hardeman, who introduced the measure. “I want business people staying in our motels, not prostitutes.”

City officials said the moratorium will only affect developers who have not yet submitted plans to the city. Applications but not plans for seven small motels have been submitted, and the temporary ban could delay construction of five of them, Hardeman said.

Hardeman, whose district includes most of the city’s small motels, said he was propositioned by a prostitute outside a motel this week after he had attended a night meeting nearby. He identified himself as a councilman and told the woman to move on, he said, but she refused, saying the corner of Imperial Highway and Doty Avenue belongs to her.

The moratorium was passed unanimously, but Mayor Edward Vincent said additional efforts are needed to drive prostitutes out of Inglewood.

In 1984, the city restricted development of new motels with fewer than 100 rooms to two specific zones, whereas motels with 100 rooms or more were allowed in commercial zones throughout the city, said William Barnett, a city planning official.

Inglewood officials said most of the illicit activity takes place in the smaller, less expensive motels and not in larger hotels run by established firms. However, Inglewood Police Sgt. Harold Moret said in an interview that statistics do not indicate that areas with small motels have any more crime than other areas. One motel owner said after Tuesday night’s meeting: “I can take you to the nicest, largest hotel in town and find you a prostitute in the lobby.”

The cities of Gardena, Long Beach, Montebello and Bell have imposed bans on motel construction within the last few years to give officials time to establish controls on smaller motels, officials in those cities say. Gardena extended its moratorium for a second year in September. Montebello bans all motels of fewer than 40 units, and Long Beach and Bell require conditional-use permits that allow city officials to approve or deny each individual project.

Councilman Jose Fernandez recommended that Inglewood also consider adopting conditional-use permits for motels.

After Tuesday’s meeting, members of the Inglewood Hotel and Motel Assn. acknowledged in interviews that smaller motels often attract prostitutes and drug dealers because of their lower prices but said more police patrols are the answer.

Bharat Patel, who owns the 44-room LaBrea Hotel on North LaBrea Avenue, said the city should consider a ban on hourly rates, which he said are clearly aimed at prostitutes and their clients. He said city zoning requirements that put all the small motels in a few areas of the city make the motel business so competitive that some owners think that they have to fill their motels with any customer who has the money.

Nick Patel, who recently closed his Century-Prairie Hotel in Inglewood, said he was constantly battling with what he called undesirables at the run-down, 40-bed motel, a problem he said he hopes will be solved after he builds a modern 23-unit facility on the site.

“These small motels are serving the ladies of the night more than anyone else,” Councilman Anthony Scardenzan said during Tuesday night’s meeting.

An hour later, on Century Boulevard, a woman walked out of a room at a small motel and asked a reporter, “Want a date?”

When asked if prostitution is a problem at the street’s motels, she responded: “Depends. It’s a problem for them, but not a problem for us.”

The woman, dressed in black-and-red stretch pants and a low-cut red blouse, then walked to a neighboring motel, and in the next 20 minutes entered three different rooms, spending a few minutes in each.

The owner of the motel, who refused to give his name, said he keeps an eye on those staying in his 14 rooms, for which he charges $29 a night.

“She’s the sister of one of the guests,” he said.