DOWNTOWN : Violations at Hotel Net $13,000 Fine
The owner of a residential hotel who pleaded no contest to slum violations was ordered to pay about $13,000 in fines and to repair all “life-threatening conditions” before it is sold.
Ernest Doizaki, 45, of La Canada Flintridge was to have repaired the defective smoke detectors, fire doors and other fire equipment at the Rossmore Hotel, 901-905 E. 6th St., by last Thursday. The 65-room hotel is about 25% occupied, according to Donald Steier, Doizaki’s attorney.
Inspectors with the city’s Slum Housing Task Force also reported finding defective plumbing fixtures, damaged walls, floors, doors and windows, and rodent and cockroach infestation at the Rossmore during inspections between October and February.
Two weeks ago, Doizaki pleaded no contest to six violations of fire, health, building and safety codes and was ordered to pay the fines, repair the facility and spend two years on probation.
The hotel is in escrow pending sale to the Skid Row Housing Trust, a nonprofit organization that buys and refurbishes residential Skid Row facilities. The violations occurred after Doizaki, the building owner since 1988, began negotiating the sale with the Slum Housing Trust, according to Steier.
Steier blamed some of the violations on “delays” in the sale.
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