Business owners vow to clean up troubled Pavilions Motel
SUNSET PARK The owners of the Pavilions Motel here said Friday that they “made a mistake” in renting rooms to drug users and vowed to repair their relationship with the community just as they are making repairs to their rooms after being cited for numerous health and safety violations.
“We are good neighbors. We just made a mistake renting to these druggies,” said Sherry Farzam, who has owned and operated the motel at 2338 Ocean Park Boulevard with her husband Saeed Farzam for the last 16 years. “This is the first time that something like this has happened. We are making repairs and hope to open as soon as possible. We have loan payments that we need to make. This is our livelihood.”
Police arrested 10 people Monday for a variety of narcotics-related crimes and for parole and probation violations after conducting an investigation into the motel, which has been the source of much frustration for residents, who have complained for years about illegal activity taking place there.
Saeed Farzam was arrested for purchasing stolen electronic equipment during an undercover sting, police said.
He was booked for receiving stolen property and his bail was set at $20,000. Sherry Farzam said her husband was out of jail and was working every day to make repairs.
City Hall’s Building and Safety Division, along with the Santa Monica Fire Department and the county Health Department conducted an inspection of the motel and found several code violations, prompting them to post a “Yellow Tag” notice prohibiting people from renting rooms or staying at the motel until the violations are repaired.
Officials with the Health Department ordered the Farzam’s to repair,repaint and renovate walls and ceilings,provide smoke detectors, clean carpets and repair a damaged door jams.
The motel is known in the community as a place where transients often stay because of the low cost of a room. Sherry Farzam said that many customers are homeless and some do not respect their rooms, constantly damaging walls, fire extinguishers and other items.
“It seems like every day we are fixing things,” she said. Residents praised the police for conducting the investigation. The neighborhood group Friends of Sunset Park made it a priority to discuss the motel with Police Chief Timothy Jackman during their annual meeting in June, said Zena Josephs, president of friends.
“Residents are very relieved about the arrests and about the motel being shut down, at least temporarily,” Josephs said. “We’ve received a lot of complaints about illegal activities going on there. Some people were afraid to go passed there and were afraid to complain because of retaliation.”
Deputy City Attorney Linda Mills said she should have more information on the violations recorded by city inspectors today or Tuesday and will better be able to tell whether or not criminal charges will be filed. City inspectors in charge of the investigation could not be reached for comment.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 30, 2007. Read the original PDF.