Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, 23 December 2011

A Gujarati NRI owned northern Kentucky motel has been shut down by city officials, after declared as a chronic nuisance in August 2010 by the Fort Mitchell City Council, which noted that police and other first responders were frequently sent to the motel for fights, thefts and drug activity.

Under the city’s chronic nuisance ordinance, business owners must propose and implement a plan to end criminal activity or health violations or face closure.

The motel had previously been operated by Holiday Inn as the Holidome, once a popular destination for families.

Police issued a notice of violation, including a $500 fine, to owner Vijay Patel in March, but city officials said drug and alcohol violations, assaults and other criminal activity continued at the motel near Interstate 75.

The motel worked with the city to develop an abatement plan and installed security cameras, but the owner was cited in July.

Three more citations were issued between August and September for failure to comply with the nuisance ordinance, and the owner was fined a total of $4,000 for the four violations.

A fifth citation was issued Nov. 21, resulting in a $7,500 fine, and a sixth was issued Dec. 5, alleging 10 days of continued criminal activity and other violations, and Patel was fined $7,500 for each of those days.

A Dec. 14 inspection found alleged fire code violations, and USA Hotel’s managers were notified five days later in a letter from the mayor that the city planned to shut down the motel.

The motel’s attorney, William Bartlett, told the city that USA Hotel would not take in any new guests and would not renew its current guests. He added that it will close at the end of January. The city’s administrator said he would not allow renewal of the motel’s occupational license.

Patel is due Jan. 5 in Kenton County District Court.

Hotel Manager Raj Patel says:

Manager Raj Patel of hotel said police is harassing hotel guests: A man is asked in the middle of the night if officers can search his car. They also call in a canine unit, but come up with nothing. Patel says things like this are bad for business and unfair.

“They’re still giving us a hard time, I don’t know why,” Patel said. “The cops come so many times, one day 10-15 times. Did you see any other hotels they’re going around? I haven’t seen any one.”

“They tell us to paint the property, tell us to do the fence, we did everything they tell us,” Patel said.