NORTH HILLS : City to Hear Appeal on Motel Restrictions

The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to consider an appeal today by a Sepulveda Boulevard motel whose owner is fighting several anti-crime and prostitution restrictions imposed last year.

Motel operators have been ordered to hire a security guard and comply with a list of 25 other conditions to be allowed to stay in business.

But Yung Tsai, the owner of the Redwood Inn, said he cannot afford to pay for a security guard. Speaking through a translator, Tsai said that he lives at the property and that “we don’t have any problems.” He denied that prostitutes use the motel.

City officials have already upheld earlier decisions against the motel, which police say has been frequented by prostitutes for the past three years.

At an appeal before the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee earlier this month, Councilman Hal Bernson suggested an increase in security to 16 hours a day--up from the 12 hours per day, four days per week ordered by zoning officials.

At that hearing, Los Angeles police vice officers testified that they had arrested a Redwood Inn manager on pandering charges and had sent an undercover officer to successfully rent a room for an hour--a violation of previous conditions imposed by the city.

Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the area surrounding the motel, is expected to support tougher restrictions against the motel, said Tom Henry, Wachs planning deputy.

Today’s hearing is Tsai’s final appeal.