While owners of the Budgetel are trying to reopen their doors soon, there are still questions about progress made since District Attorney Coty Wamp shut them down.
The extended stay was closed last November, displacing many families, after the district attorney declared it unsafe, citing numerous police calls and drug activity.
Tuesday we were at the Budgetel as District Attorney Wamp, Judge Boyd Patterson and the Budgetel owner did a walk through of the building.
Some new upgrades that we learned about include:
- The installation of about 20 new cameras, there will be 84 in total
- A DVD system that would have 45+ days worth of recordings
- A new smoke alarm system that would directly contact the fire department instead of the front desk
But even with all of these updates, District Attorney Wamp says she does not think building 1 is ready to be opened.
“I did not petition the court to shut this hotel down because of the paint and the bedspreads and the cockroaches. Those were bad, but I petition based on the 2,000 calls in a few year period the Eastridge police department got because of criminal activity at this location.," says DA Wamp.
Here's a list of other concerns the DA had:
- There are no cameras currently in connecting hallways.
- She says there was a theft of copper wire off the property a couple of weeks ago.
- She says a fence separating building 1 from the other buildings (that are not fully renovated) can be walked around.
- Family’s are not supposed to stay at the Budgetel longer than 120 days and she questions if they will enforce this, as there were overstays prior to the evictions.
We reached out to the Budgetel owner for interview but he declined.
There will be a court meeting on Thursday to discuss further updates to the Budgetel.