Man Fined Over Slum Conditions at Hotel

A Sherman Oaks man was ordered to pay more than $10,000 in fines and investigative costs this week after pleading no contest to permitting slum conditions at a central Los Angeles hotel, the city attorney said.

Michael J. Bolasna, 46, and his company, Lota Grn Inc., were sentenced Thursday by Los Angeles Municipal Judge Craig Veals after pleading no contest to nine counts of violating various building, safety and health codes at the six-story Ford Hotel, located at 1000-1002 E. 7th St.

Although the building has since been sold, Bolasna was fined for violations that existed under his ownership.

The charges stemmed from investigations by the Slum Housing Task Force from October 1995 through last January, the city attorney said.

Investigators found tenants living in units with broken windows and without heat, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence P.V. Punter, who prosecuted the case.

Other substandard conditions included peeling paint, missing plaster, damaged plumbing and floor coverings and missing and defective smoke detectors.

Bolasna was ordered to pay $10,106 in fines and costs and was placed on two years probation. His company was placed on three years probation.

The Ford Hotel has had a dubious history, even before Bolasna purchased it. In February 1993, 40-year-old hotel resident Damacio Ybarra Torres shot and seriously injured three doctors before taking several other people hostage at County-USC Medical Center.

Later that year, a Superior Court judge ordered owners of the Ford to bolster security at the hotel, described at the time by police as having the worst drug-trafficking problem in the downtown area.