Anaheim clamps down on motels accused of attracting drug dealing and prostitution

As part of the city’s efforts to revitalize a 1.5-mile stretch of Beach Boulevard, Anaheim officials have been clamping down on motels that reportedly draw drug use, prostitution and other crimes to the area.

Much of the iconic street that serves as a thoroughfare to Orange County’s beaches has become dilapidated since it opened in 1934. Among other development projects on the boulevard, cities like Anaheim, Buena Park and Stanton have taken aim at problematic motels as a means to improve the community.

This week, the Anaheim City Council voted to tighten restrictions on the Anaheim Lodge and Travel Inn. Police claimed that crime has increased at both properties in recent months.

“Much of the criminal activity along Beach Boulevard originates from mismanaged motels that facilitate an environment that is conducive to illegal activities such as drug dealing, illegal gambling halls, slap houses and prostitution,” said Ted White, director of the city’s planning and building department. “These criminal activities lead to assaults, shootings, drug overdoses, deaths, human trafficking and property crimes along the boulevard.

“Part of our evaluation of potential efforts to help address the significant challenges facing Beach, the city and police department staff identified two poorly managed motel properties, the Anaheim Lodge and the Travel Inn, that operate with limited conditions of approval and would benefit from greater accountability and oversight in the form of more stringent conditions of approval.”

The council voted to impose a series of conditions on the two motels, including creating a security and operations plan that will be renewed annually, having a manager onsite for 24 hours, daily cleaning services, prohibiting short duration rentals, requiring that guests be at least 21 years old to rent a room and regular maintenance such as removing trash and graffiti.

The City Council considered the issue on Tuesday night because the motels were appealing a prior decision from the Planning Commission from earlier this year. An attorney for the motels filed the appeal contending that the commission’s decision should be overturned because police had entered and searched the properties unlawfully, and there is no evidence the motels are violating the law or creating a public nuisance, among other reasons.

“I don’t doubt that there may be issues that you’ve got with people living or with some of the crime areas in general, but to single out a couple of motels and then just to impose the conditions arbitrarily is not the way to go,” said Atty. Frank Weiser, who is representing the motels. “Getting to the substance of what they’re doing, my clients are not opposed to voluntarily working with the city to try to update any claimed nuisance activity in the area. To that extent, I think they’ve gone beyond what they’re required to do.”

Anaheim is clamping down on two motels, the Travel Inn and Anaheim Lodge, that reportedly attract crime.

(Ben Brazil)

Weiser said the motels already institute a number of the conditions that were later imposed by the city, including a security and operations plan, 24-hour on-site management, daily cleaning services, a prohibition on short-term rentals and regular maintenance. He said his clients’ issue with the city imposing the conditions is that it gives officials the power to later revoke each business’ permit and shut them down.

Weiser also took umbrage with the procedures of the meeting, claiming that he and his clients never received the “documentary evidence” that backs the claims the city’s making against the motels.

“How am I supposed to rebut a charge in which I see no documentary evidence?” he said. “... It seems so fundamentally clear that that’s just a violation of due process.”

The City Council was not swayed by Weiser’s argument and approved the conditions 6-0, with Councilman Jose Diaz recused. Councilman Jose Moreno said it is within the council’s responsibilities to reign in problematic businesses.

“If they become a nuisance and a danger to public health and safety under the metrics that we use, then that does warrant specific attention,” Moreno said. “We’re moving towards modifying to better secure the health of that community and improve it under the rebuild Beach that we’re trying to do. So yes, it is to the city’s benefit that that stretch of the boulevard becomes safer ...”

The reported motel problem is not specific to Anaheim. Buena Park and Stanton are also investing in the revitalization of the boulevard.

Buena Park has purchased motels and replaced them with restaurants, hotels and other attractions. Stanton has also purchased motels and turned them into housing for the homeless through the statewide Project Homekey program, which entails purchasing and rehabilitating hotels, motels, vacant apartments and other buildings. The program was introduced by the state amid the pandemic as a way to transition homeless people to permanent housing from Project Roomkey, another pandemic-era state program that placed homeless Californians in hotel rooms.

Anaheim is also getting involved with Project Homekey. Late last month it was awarded $26.5 million in state funding to convert a Studio 6 motel on Harbor Boulevard into affordable housing. The city also partnered with the Jamboree Housing Corp. to turn a former Econo Lodge motel on West La Palma Avenue in the city into affordable housing for veterans, the mentally ill and the formerly homeless. The property was the first of its kind in Anaheim since the city passed an ordinance in 2019 allowing motels and other commercial and office structures to be converted into affordable housing.

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