City considers action with Motel 6

John Howell
Posted 3/26/15

After two high profile incidents at Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard – the first involving the arrest of three men for allegedly operating a meth lab on March 15, and then the arrest of a Boston man …

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City considers action with Motel 6

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After two high profile incidents at Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard – the first involving the arrest of three men for allegedly operating a meth lab on March 15, and then the arrest of a Boston man on sex trafficking charges five days later – Warwick Police Chief Col. Stephen McCartney is considering bringing the hotel owners before the Board of Public Safety. Such a hearing would be a first step to imposing restrictions or a fee on the hotel or seeking to close it completely.

It’s a measure that some officials, who note that the hotel has been a source of numerous police responses, say is overdue.

“We’ve had bad issues there for the past two to three years,” McCartney said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon. He said in the past year there have been 75 arrests at Motel 6, most involving drugs, disorderly conduct and the execution of warrants.

With 15 hotels, Warwick has more than 2,200 of the state’s 11,000 hotels rooms. Warwick hotels have an assessed valuation of $92 million and pay more than $2.5 million in taxes. Police respond to a variety of hotel calls ranging from wedding parties that get out of hand to drunken patrons, rowdiness and fights. No hotel is immune, but Commander Michael Babula says no hotel has had as many problems as this one in the last few years.

According to city land records, Coastal Holdings Warwick LLC has owned Motel 6 since the fall of 1995. Two calls to the hotel manager were not returned.

Even so, McCartney is taking a measured approach. He said he has talked with Motel 6 management and told them they are “on my radar screen.”

“The message here is that we’re not trying to put this hotel out of business,” he said.

Rather, he said, the department is researching city and state law regulating hotels and compiling the history of police action at Motel 6. It will be up to the Board of Public Safety to determine whether they want to conduct a hearing and take action.

McCartney identified location and price as driving the problem. Motel 6 is in a commercial area and easily accessible to Route 95. Room prices start at $55.99 a night, according to the Motel 6 website.

He called the site “out of the way,” and he speculated if it had backed up to residential properties it would be out of business because of the level of complaints.

Mayor Scott Avedisian in a separate interview said the room price and easy access make Motel 6 fertile ground for bad activity to take place. In addition to talking with the chief, Avedisian said he has talked with Diana Pearson, legal counsel to the Board of Public Safety, and Dale Venturini, president of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association. He said Venturini suggested training sessions for hotel employees to help them identify cases of human trafficking.

Venturini said the association provides an online program using case studies as a training tool, as well as seminars on identifying criminal activity and how to deal with it. The association has conducted seminars for the past two years.

She said that hoteliers should know the signs of trafficking and continue to be vigilant. She said that housekeepers are in a position to pick up on prostitution and criminal activity.

“We will be proactive,” she vowed.

Reaction has come from several council members.

“I’m pro business,” said Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur, “but there comes a point in time when enough is enough.”

Ladouceur said calls to Motel 6 are placing an enormous burden on the police department and that additionally he has concerns for the safety of hotel guests as well as police. He observed that as a practice, after three false alarms, the Fire Department assesses a business for repeated false alarms. He suggested there might be a threshold on police responses after which Motel 6 would be charged a fee.

“You have a responsibility to be a good neighbor,” he said.

Ladouceur said there is a serious need for an immediate review of what’s happened at Motel 6.

Ward 3 Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkinson said she wants to make certain of all the facts before making judgment, but from what she knows she’s concerned that the public is being put at risk.

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