JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A motel has been closed by local officials after they say it’s become a crime den.
The Gold Rush Inn on the city’s northside was the site of numerous local police callouts including a fatal shooting this week.
"They don’t have to feel bullets, crime, and prostitution as they drive down Harts Road going home to almost 5,000 people who live down that road, so it’s a big day for them and what a great Christmas present for them,” said City Councilman Reggie Gaffney.
"In its emergency closure order, the state said the hotel has shown quote “abject disregard” for the health and safety of its guests, something Jacksonville Councilman Gaffney echoes.
“If we continue to just kick the can down the road somebody going to lose their life within 15 days if we don’t come down to some kind of solution," said Gaffney.
A city council meeting held a meeting Wednesday morning to talk about long-term solutions to nuisance properties.
“Most hotels don’t open with the intention to be the way that they end of being such as Gold Rush motel, they open up with the intention to have an establishment but when times get thought they began to allow perhaps criminal activity to come in there," said Joe Zimmerman, ECA for District 7.
Councilwoman Leanna Cumber says she sees similar activity like Gold Rush Inn on Philips Highway.
“It’s like playing whack-a-mole and these hotels are transient and there has to be something we can do because our constituents demand it and it’s really impeding development," said Councilwoman Cumber.
One possible solution is creating a stand-alone board that will target these properties.
“We have to identify what criminal activity is occurring in the property that the board will have the authority to require the property owners to clean up," said Jason Teal, Deputy General Counsel of the Regulatory and Constitutional Law Department.
