TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to:
• Receive and file a report from the Long Beach Innovation Team on the Nuisance Motels Pilot Program;
• Explore the feasibility of a citywide Nuisance Motel Ordinance that would hold property owners accountable for nuisance and criminal related activities, by accelerating administrative penalties and timelines on nuisance, crime-ridden motels throughout the City of Long Beach; and
• Explore the feasibility of implementing a Motel Amortization Program in order to reduce over concentration and outdated uses along corridors, thus diminishing the use of motels as hubs for illegal activity.
DISCUSSION
On February 9, 2018, a memorandum was released to the Mayor and Members of the City Council regarding the new Nuisance Motels Pilot Program, a multidepartment effort to address the ongoing issues involving motels in Long Beach with high volume nuisance complaints and high calls for police service. The Nuisance Motels Pilot Program includes six motels located in Council Districts 2, 6, and 9.
To identify trends and establish a baseline for police activity at the motels throughout the city, calls for service and Incident Report records were analyzed and weighted based on severity of the criminal activity in question. The results from the police data analysis were narrowed down to the locations with the highest scores, from which six locations were selected for the pilot program.
In addition to the six motels participating in the pilot study, we know that many motels in the city cause numerous problems for the neighborhoods surrounding them, as they have increasingly become hubs for human trafficking, prostitution, drug-use, and violent crime. To address motels as centers for illegal activity, other cities have taken action by implementing both short-term and long-term solutions such as adopting nuisance motel ordinances, purchasing "problem motels" and converting them into affordable housing, and enacting amortizat...
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