COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Police are cracking down on violent crime, prostitution and dangerous living conditions along Old National Highway in College Park.
So far, they said they've made progress by shutting down a motel in College Park that police and health officials described is a magnet and breeder of crime.
Police said the motel is just one of many businesses they’re targeting.
There’s not even a sign out front of the business, called “MotelX,” as in X-rated rooms for adults only, on Old National Highway at I-285.
Police described it as a place of homicides, shootings, thefts, and prostitution, where some families with children even live, trying to stay safe from the crime by locking themselves in their dilapidated rooms in back, where police said they have to live with black mold.
“I mean it’s horrible,” said Denine Brand Tuesday evening, “because people are only (living) here because they have to be, not because they want to be. Most of us, anyway.”
Denine Brand has lived at the motel, in her one-room rental with her four children, ages eight through 17, for three years.
They moved to the motel, she said, before the owner installed stripper poles in the rooms behind the doors that he painted purple.
The MotelX website advertises those rooms for $20 for two hours.
Last week, the City of College Park ordered the business closed due to code violations. Residents still living there have until April 27 to move out, and Brand is trying to find another room for her family she can afford, one that is on her children's school bus routes.
The city closed the motel after a police raid last week conducted along with other law enforcement agencies, as well as with the Fulton County Board of Health.
“This hotel has been on our radar for quite a while,” College Park Police Major Lance Patterson said, pointing to “thefts, shootings, homicides. Unfortunately, prostitution concerns” as well.
The manager of the Waffle House that is next door to the motel, Roosevelt Ware, had to lock his restaurant’s doors, permanently; he takes orders only online for pickup at a take-out window.
“There were too many situations where shootings or fights or something happen, and they kind of want to come over here for shelter, and we had to stop that, for safety,” Ware said.
He’s glad the motel is shutting down. He calls it a first step to restoring the neighborhood where he grew up, restoring it to the neighborhood he remembers.
“It’ll shut down some of the issues,” Ware said, “but you’ll hear a gunshot at least twice a week, it starts from Thursday, on.”
Major Patterson said the bust last week is meant to send a message to the whole neighborhood.
“With us being right here next to the busiest airport in the world, with the numerous hotels that we have in the city, it’s always an inviting option for people looking to do the wrong thing. We’re not going to tolerate it," he said. "We’ll continue to look at other locations in the city where similar complaints are being made and we’ll take similar actions.”
11Alive is working to reach the owner of the motel for comment. He was one of the people cited or arrested during the raid.
The City of College Park is now preparing to make sure the owner obeys all the codes that apply to his soon-to-be vacant building.