Push to get motel shut down is revived

Oak Cliff: Activists want to protect students; owner denies any crime

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, September 17, 2006

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News

On one side of the street, a prestigious DISD magnet high school.

On the other side, the Classic Motel, an establishment cited in the past by the city for prostitution and known as a magnet for illegal activities since at least the early 1990s.

Before the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center opened in Oak Cliff 11 years ago, some officials and community members pushed to shut down the motel. That effort failed.

Now two community advocates said they plan to finish the job.

"Our goal is to have this shut down and away from these babies," said former Dallas City Council candidate Dwaine Caraway, speaking of the Harllee Elementary School students just down the street. "They should be shut down today."

Classic Motel owner Yogi Gandhi said Friday that his business is crime-free.

"It's not true, because I live here with my family," Mr. Gandhi said. "We are not stupid."

But Mr. Caraway and community advocate Mike Davis are taking the same approach to shut the motel that they took earlier this year to help close the American Inn on Scyene Road in South Dallas.

That motel had long been a breeding ground for prostitution, drug use and violence.

Like the American Inn, the Classic Motel is considered a nonconforming business because a motel with 60 rooms or fewer requires a specific-use permit from the city.

In 2003, a court injunction ordered the motel on East 8th Street to cease and desist criminal activity, specifically prostitution. The motel was then held in contempt for renting rooms for less than 10 hours per day and failing to register guests, said Chris Bowers, chief of litigation in the city attorney's office.

On Friday, Mr. Caraway and Mr. Davis filed initial papers with the city to put the case before the Board of Adjustments. Once their application is complete, the board will hold a public hearing to determine whether the business is compatible with the neighborhood, said Mr. Bowers.

"I really would like to see that motel closed," said Lew Blackburn, the DISD school board member whose district includes the high school and elementary. "It's just not conducive for these schools that are in close proximity."

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