I promised the family of the man murdered at the Royal Motel, this year, that I would do this story. I don't feel the need for this, since I've already posted something about it at my other blog, Americas Deadly Sins:
http://themightyswordamericas26deadlysins.blogspot.com
Instead, this post will address the need to shut down this hotel, due to its ongoing reputation for drugs, prostitution, robbery...and now murder, since the 1980's. There's a story, recently run by the register, that tells of a member of the city council FINALLY expressing a need to shut down this hotel...and others like it. But here's the thing, there are no others quite like it. Since the beginning of the crack days back in 1984, this hotel has seen it's share of prostitution and drugs run through it's doors, and everyone knows this is the most notorious of the bunch, by far. Of course, any extended stay type hotel is apt to be full of the same types of problems, but this one is KNOWN for it, famous even. Most know to avoid it like the plague, along with others of its ilk, namely the Cozy Rest, Hawkeye and the Motel Relax. Some, though, that were mentioned, although not the BEST choices of places to live, aren't all that bad, as long as you mind your own business. Others, like the Royal are even suggested if you want find trouble. Those are the kind you want to shut down, not the remainder that aren't generally mentioned as very troublesome.
If you're trying to bring about the end of every extended stay hotel...I wish you the best of luck. Since America's on-going recession, and the crash of the housing market, let alone things like bank foreclosures on middle-class citizens; these things will only serve to fuel the market.. Transient Americans are becoming more commonplace, and, since no lease is involved, and deposits are often low, the extended stay hotel is going to become an American staple, in the years to follow, unless things improve, starting with our economy and the job market.
The Royal Motel, however, is a place that has been overlooked and ignored, primarily, for quite some time. Sure, they bust the place up on occasion, just to say they have, in order to appease the neighborhood; but it remains open, and now has a murder to include into its legacy. This is unacceptable. Leave the majority alone, the people in extended stay motels generally aren't leasable; due to evictions, or stupid rental conditions being adopted by the real estate market, like forcing viable tenants to prove that they make three times what the rent they're being charged, is. They pay a deposit and rent that is equal to most more reasonable apartments in the community, and the apartments they live in are fully functional, complete with full service kitchens, free cable and free Internet. The royal is just a dive motel, with normal crap rooms, that has a reputation the entire city knows about...and promptly ignores, allowing the owners to continue renting rooms to the people who flock there, knowing they can get away with just about anything. Ask anyone where the worst hotel is, or where you are very likely to find drugs or prostitution right in the room next to you, and they all pretty much point in the same direction...South, sometimes, sure....but the most known of the bunch is the motel that has the blue crown as its most notorious logo.
