by James C. Sherlock
Sometimes absolutely necessary actions have more than one outcome.
Such is the case in Petersburg.
Joyce Chu of Petersburg’s indispensable Progress- Index last evening initiated a multi-part series on the impacts of the city’s closure due to safety violations of two motels used by otherwise homeless people.
Her first article makes a case for more government and charitable services for the people affected by the closures. Good for her. No one wants people living on the streets and everyone wants the kids in school.
She explains that the California Inn, OYO and Travel Inn motels, among a group of low cost motels right off of I-95, were
also hotbeds of crime, drug overdoses and prostitution mixed in with families with children, according to former residents and homeless advocates.
She points out that Petersburg has resumed (after a lengthy period when it did not) enforcing its zoning codes. A team called the ACE team — Abatement, Compliance, and Enforcement — is on task, run by the Fire Chief.
Code enforcement is an absolutely necessary step to revitalize the city.
So is helping those adversely affected. -Hotel owners should be forced within the limits of the law to assist. Continue reading