Tuesday, April 26, 2016

City Files Suit Against New Harbor Inn

FILE UNDER "IT'S ABOUT TIME!"
By now many of you have read the announcement by The City of Costa Mesa regarding the legal action taken against another "problem motels", the New Harbor Inn, 2205 Harbor Blvd.  You can read that information HERE.
 LOOKING FOR MORE INFO
When I first saw that I wanted more information than was available at the time, so I attempted to scrounge through electronic sources to get more information on what kind of egregious activities would have prompted this severe action by The City.  I was unsuccessful, finding only a couple references that the New Harbor Inn was improving since The City decided to begin waging war on motels in the city a few years ago at the insistence of Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer.

THE COMPLAINT AVAILABLE NOW
Today, though, a copy of the actual complaint has been made public.  You can read it HERE.  Trust me, once you reach the point early in this document where The New Harbor Inn is described as "a hub of criminal activity in Orange County" you probably won't stop reading.

YIKES!
As you read down through paragraph after paragraph listing events and tallying-up crimes at that location you get a clear picture of why something had to be done.  Yes, this place is a den of iniquity.

AS THE LEGAL SYSTEM GRINDS ON
So, now this legal drama will play out and it seems likely that a court will force something very serious to happen with that location - perhaps closure.  That's probably a good thing, right?

GARRETT'S CLOSING... HMMMMM?
Then I began wondering about Garrett's Furniture Store next door, which is closing shop.  I began thinking what a nice big chunk of land could be made by combining those two sites.

WHAT ABOUT TRADE WINDS MOBILE HOME PARK?
And then I began thinking about the Trade Winds Mobile Home Park right next door and wondered what kind of huge development might be possible if ALL THREE of those properties were combined.  I'm sorry, but these guys force my mind to work this way!

WATCH FOR FAMILIAR NAMES
It's going to be very interesting to watch this drama unfold, and to see what the future holds for all of these properties... and if any of the campaign contributors to certain local politicians end up involved with these properties.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Where's My Coffee? said...

Geoff, I think you already know the answer to that question. All you have to do is look at the new General Plan to see that it calls for Harbot Blvd. and Newport Blvd. to be lined (Harbor on both sides) all the way from Mesa Verde West down to 19th Street (with few exceptions) with high density development. They have to eliminate the businesses the way they did on Hamilton and Harbor. Same thing. Buy up the businesses, if possible. If not, kick em' out. Complain about the motels until they lose their license, and then the developers take over. Our city will be just like Wilshire Blvd. The high density has been planned, and if Righeimer and Mensinger maintain council control, it will nearly enclose Harbor and Newport Blvds. This is nothing but business to them to get rid of the motels. You could have a church there and those two would charge that its a devil's den if they wanted to develop it.

Get these guys out of office. They are ruining our city.

4/26/2016 05:41:00 PM  
Anonymous Casual Viewer said...

They have been known to use code enforcement to pressure people to sell. It's interesting that the much more tacky Tahiti Motor Inn by K-Mart has been ignored. Maybe that piece of land is too small or undesirable to make it worth hassling.

4/26/2016 05:57:00 PM  
Anonymous Ken Nyquist said...

I can answer one issue right now. The Tradewind's is in a family trust and not for sale now, and will not be for sale in this century. There is zero probability to force or offer any amount of money to change that.The rent roll has been stable since it was built and is just a fraction of the property in the trust.

4/26/2016 06:34:00 PM  
Anonymous FriendlyNeighbor said...

Is there any research to confirm that merely closing a motel will eliminate the crime? The criminals are still around, drug dealers have local customers and we don't have the specialized police departments that we used to have. Seems like the crime scene will just relocate nearby. There might be more of a connection of the crimes to the numerous liquor stores and bars around town, or maybe the abundant massage parlors, which are open all hours. Thank you for the info, Geoff.

4/26/2016 10:45:00 PM  
Anonymous Casual Viewer said...

Closing the motels will eliminate crime. That's their story and they're stickin' to it. And by "they" I mean the not so public square crowd.

4/27/2016 07:29:00 AM  

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