VAN NUYS : 4 Targeted Motels Hire Private Security

Culminating a months-long battle between Van Nuys neighbors and motel owners, four motels on crime-plagued Sepulveda Boulevard this week pooled their resources and hired private security, a move intended to comply with city orders to curb prostitution in the area.

The motel owners, who for months said hiring security would cause them financial hardship, will pay less than $10,000 a month for the service. The decision brought expressions of relief from those who have considered the motels magnets for prostitution, drug dealing and other crime.

“We’re thrilled,” said Rosalind Wayman, field deputy for City Councilman Marvin Braude, who initiated the city’s crackdown on the motels in December at the request of neighborhood constituents. “My sense is, at this point, (the motel owners) are complying with the security condition. I believe they really want to resolve this.”

The motels, located along a 2.9-mile stretch of Sepulveda Boulevard from Camarillo Street to Sherman Way, are the El Cortez, the Town House, the Cinema and the Bali Hi. None of the owners returned calls requesting a comment.

However, Bill Van Horenbeeck, general manager of West Hills Patrol and Guard Inc., disclosed details about the four motels’ contract with his company.

“What we are providing right now is a security guard eight hours a day, seven days a week, plus 24-hour response,” Van Horenbeeck said. “Our officers make regular rounds at irregular intervals.”

The guard, who will ride in a patrol car, will be responsible for chasing prostitutes and drug dealers from the properties.

Troublesome trespassers would probably be handled by the Los Angeles Police Department, although the guards are equipped to make citizen’s arrests.

Last month, the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals again ordered all four motels to participate in a security program to discourage prostitution and other illegal activity that police say occurs at the businesses.

Rather than forcing all the motels to hire individual security--at a cost of as much as $60,000 per year per motel--the zoning panel allowed the owners to split the cost for 24-hour on-call security, as long as the Bali Hi retained an eight-hour-a-day security guard.

The security requirement is one of 27 conditions imposed on the motels in March by a city zoning official who investigated the businesses and branded them public nuisances. A fifth motel, the Chateau, has since closed. The motels were ordered to comply with the conditions or risk closure by the city.

The city will hold a review within the next 100 days to determine if its conditions have been met by all four motels and whether they have been effective in eliminating the crime problems.