Police Crackdown Quells Problems
All’s quiet on the Garvey Strip since police stepped up patrols against drug dealing and prostitution in motels there last summer, and an upcoming city ordinance aims to keep it that way.
“We’re going to do anything and everything we can to prevent prostitution and drug dealing from returning to that part of town,” Baldwin Park Mayor Fidel A. Vargas said. “If (motel owners) step so much as two inches beyond the limits of the law, then we’re going to crack down.”
From June through September, Police Chief Carmine Lanza said police heightened their surveillance of these hotels.
Since then, he said, there have been no arrests for prostitution there, and fewer than five drug arrests. By contrast, there were approximately 150 arrests made during the summer, said Sgt. Mike Taylor.
In September, the city shut down two hotels--the B & B and Lucky 7--for health, fire and building code violations, Lanza said. The B & B reopened in November. Manager Pete Patel, said the crackdowns have improved conditions.
To make sure things stay that way, the city is drafting an ordinance that would prohibit motels from renting a room more than once in 24 hours.
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