Modesto looks to crack down on problem motels

Amy Smith sat on the bottom steps of a staircase at the Tiki Lodge on McHenry Avenue on Monday afternoon, her rescue puppy, Luna, on her lap. She gestured to the room across from the stairs where she said the day before she pounded on the door to stop a man from beating his wife.

Smith said the man opened the door and she saw his wife. The woman’s face was bloody and she clutched her two children in her arms. Police said the man was arrested and the woman hospitalized. Information about where the children were taken was not available.

Modesto officials say incidents like this are far too common at the Tiki Lodge and the Budgetel Inn & Suites, also on McHenry Avenue.

In 2014, police responded to 399 calls for service at the 61-room Tiki Lodge, which works out to 6.5 calls per motel room, according to information compiled by police. Officers responded to 469 calls at the 102-room Budgetel in 2014, which works out to 4.6 calls per room. And through June 8 of this year, officers responded to 210 calls at the Tiki and 197 at Budgetel.

Police say the two motels generate the most calls per room; calls for such disturbances as fights, arguments, drug possession and security checks. But about a third of the calls were initiated by officers checking on the motels and not the result of people at the motels calling them.

The City Council on Tuesday is expected to discuss a proposed ordinance that would let Modesto fine hotels that generate excessive calls for service. The fines would help the city recoup the cost of these calls, but Police Chief Galen Carroll said the fines are meant to motivate the motels to increase security and not rent to people who have caused problems in the past.

He said in an email that the Tiki Lodge and Budgetel are “nuisance properties that due to a lack of strong management have allowed those properties to be hotbeds of criminal activity. The reason the Police Department and the city are looking to take stronger action against nuisance properties is they unfairly pull police resources from the rest of the city to deal with the problems the property owners and hotel managers should be addressing themselves.”

Representatives with the Tiki and Budgetel say the city is placing them in a no-win situation. They say if they don’t call the police, a situation can get out of hand. But then they are penalized for calling the police. “If we don’t call them, we are in trouble,” Budgetel assistant general manager Sofia Nisha said. “If we call them, we are in trouble. What are we supposed to do?”

Both motels are owned by the Khatri Brothers Partnership. Neal Khatri stressed that while the partnership owns the properties it does not manage them. Instead it leases the properties to motel operators. Khatri – who is chairman of the Modesto Hotel Council – said while he does not condone illegal activity, the responsibility for running them rests with the operators.

Guests with vouchers issued by Stanislaus County and other agencies make up a significant number of the motels’ clientele. People who are given the vouchers face being homeless without them. But neighboring businesses complain these guests can cause problems and attract more problem people.

The county issued $568,000 in vouchers from October 2013 to October 2014, with $280,000 going to the Tiki and $178,000 to Budgetel, according to information provided by the county. The vouchers can provide housing of last resort for desperate people.

Smith and her husband stayed at the Tiki for about two months on vouchers. She was at the Tiki on Monday visiting her 18-year-old son, who is still staying at the motel. She said during her stay the hotel guests were a mixed bag of the working poor and criminals. She questioned whether cracking down on those with vouchers will make a difference and could lead to them living on the streets.

“I think the problem is deeper than that because the poverty level is high here,” she said. “What do you do when you are impoverished? You go to the cheapest hotel, and this is the cheapest hotel around so everybody can afford it – whether you are selling drugs, prostitution or working.”

Carroll said the Budgetel and Tiki can provide safer environments while continuing to take vouchers.

Ruben Imperial with the county CEO’s office said Carroll met with county officials a few months ago to discuss his concerns about the vouchers. He said the county and the nonprofits that receive the vouchers are working on three solutions: developing minimum standards for the hotels that receive the vouchers, increasing the number of hotels that accept vouchers so clients are not concentrated in a couple of hotels, and starting a team that would check on clients and help motels when problems arise.

But Imperial said he does not think the majority of the problems at the hotels are caused by people receiving vouchers.

Tiki manager Tim Griffin said he and the hotel operator, Joe Sun, have been working with the police to address their concerns. Griffin said he has kicked out 53 guests in the past month. He added that some of the complaints come from the bar crowd at the Tiki Lounge next door and from loud music at the nearby stereo store.

But Modesto Car Toys owner Issa Haddad said that he has been in business next door to the Tiki for a dozen years and that the motel has gotten worse. He said he frequently witnesses prostitution, drug deals and fights. Last month, he said, a woman ran into his store crying because her boyfriend had tried to run her over in the Tiki parking lot.

“No one is going to want get a nice TV entertainment center or car stereo where everyone around the building looks like they are going to steal it,” Haddad said about the Tiki’s impact on his business.

The McHenry Avenue Denny’s that shares a parking lot with Budgetel has similar concerns. General Manager Sophy Phoeun said she and her staff witness prostitution and drug deals and other bad behavior in the parking lot, and she attributes the problems to the Budgetel’s clients who use vouchers. She said they attract vagrants and other troublemakers. She said the hotel went downhill when it started accepting vouchers a few years ago.

“The hotel used to be a nice place,” said Phoeun, who has worked at that Denny’s for 14 years. “As long as they keep the voucher program, there will continue to be problems.”

Nisha, the Budgetel assistant general manager, said her motel is working to be a good neighbor and is looking to increase security. She said Modesto has a bigger problem with vagrancy. “We are trying very hard,” she said. “It’s very unfair to point fingers.”

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the basement chamber of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St. The workshop to discuss the proposed ordinance to fine problem hotels will be held after the council meeting in room B300.

This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Modesto looks to crack down on problem motels."