Lockwood: Problem Motels Should Foot Bill For Police Costs

RIO GRANDE – After another weekend of multiple police calls to voucher motels in Rio Grande, Former Mayor and Township Committee candidate Dan Lockwood called today for a hike in the Township’s hotel licensing fees. Lockwood said a large portion of the crime in Middle Township is committed in a small area in Rio Grande and that the problems are driven by the motels that accept state vouchers, but fail to properly screen applicants or work with the MTPD to keep their hotels free of criminal activity. 
Middle Township Committeeman Tim Donohue proposed a similar measure during budget hearings in April. Lockwood said his plan would go further, levying increased fees and fines for motels that exceeded a certain number of police calls for service per year. Lockwood also called for increased inspections to assure compliance with building, fire and property maintenance codes.
“Many of these hotels have developed a business model that is built around accepting these state vouchers,” Lockwood said. “We recognize there is a need to help folks who genuinely need emergency, temporary housing. But certain hotel owners have allowed their business to become way stations for a criminal element involved in drugs, prostitution and petty theft that can all too often escalate into violent crime. If these hotel owners won’t clean up their own properties, we need to do it for them and have them bear the costs. I’m proposing a combination of increased licensing fees and fines and a crackdown on any and all fire, construction and code violations we can find. These steps may unfairly punish some hotel owners that run a tight ship, but maybe it will create some peer pressure on the bad actors in this business to clean up their act.”
PAID FOR BY LOCKWOOD FOR COMMITTEE 2016 – 9 N. Boyd St., CMCH, NJ 08210