POLICE INSPECTOR BLASTS SLUMLORDS

A 10-week undercover police probe that targeted three Downtown
Eastside hotels allegedly involved in drug dealing, welfare fraud and
stolen property won't be the last one, says the police commander for
the area.

Insp. Bob Rolls promised at a news conference Monday that Vancouver
police will target more hotels in the new year with the goal of
getting owners to clean up their businesses.

If they don't, police will work to close them, Rolls said

"If I had my way, I'd love to see these [three] places shut down. I've
got no use for these places or their operators."

Rolls didn't identify the owners, but pointed out two of them were
extremely wealthy. One owner owns multiple properties and lives in a
wealthy part of the city, he added.

"These are greedy people who just can't resist taking advantage of
some of the poorest citizens in our city. These are people who are
more than willing to push the homeless out on to the street so they
can line their own pockets with money and it's just right before
Christmas. As far as I'm concerned, some of these [owners] are like
the worst characters out of a Charles Dickens' [novel]."

Police targeted the Gastown Hotel at 110 Water St., the Lucky Lodge at
134 Powell St. and the Astoria Hotel at 769 East Hastings. Amrik
Randhawa owns the Gastown, the Sahota family owns the Astoria and Park
Regent Investors Inc. owns the Lucky Lodge.

The Courier left a message for the Sahotas at their Shaughnessy home,
but did not receive a return call before yesterday's deadline. The
Sahotas also own the Regent and Balmoral hotels in the Downtown Eastside.

The Courier contacted a desk clerk at the Gastown, who said Randhawa
wouldn't be available until after the Courier's deadline. Randhawa
appeared on a television newscast Monday night denying the police
allegations.

The principles of Park Regent, who have owned the Lucky Lodge for
several years, are reportedly out of town. The operator of the Lucky
Lodge is Mario Laudisio and his wife, who are leasing the hotel, said
Barb Windsor, the city's deputy chief licensing inspector.

The Laudisios have been operating the hotel without the city's
permission for about four to six months. The Laudisios have since
applied to the city to operate the Lucky Lodge, she said.

"It's our routine practice in the Downtown Eastside-all applicants for
businesses in that area must do a police background check and we have
not had that cleared by the police yet."

The Courier was unable to contact the Laudisios before yesterday's
deadline. Windsor noted the police will forward her a file on Project
Haven before the city will decide if any action should be taken
against the hotels' owners.

The probe led police to recommend 17 drug trafficking charges and
multiple counts of welfare fraud. Police also recommended business
licence reviews and action against two licensed premises for buying
stolen liquor.

The undercover officers were supplied welfare cheques they sold to
management at the hotels. In one case, $487 in welfare cheques were
sold for $50, with the buyer knowing the seller was desperate for drug
money.

Management would then take the seller's room key and rent the room to
another tenant or conduct the same scam, an undercover officer told
the Courier.

"We were told by desk clerks that the one hotel was doing it 30, 40
times a month," the officer said, adding that the hotels were infested
with rats, mice, cockroaches and bedbugs. The officer requested her
name be withheld because she is still engaged in undercover work.

Bob Meanley, a representative from the Ministry of Employment and
Income Assistance and a former Vancouver police inspector, attended
the police press conference. He initially agreed to speak to reporters
about welfare fraud and then declined.

Police then gave reporters the name of a public affairs person at the
ministry to call. Messages left Monday were not returned before
yesterday's deadline.

Though the probe revealed rampant crime, Rolls pointed out there are
at least five other hotels in the Downtown Eastside that have received
more police calls than the three investigated in Project Haven.

"When we started looking at the potential places we could do the
project on, one of the places was just too darn dangerous to do the
project in. We couldn't put undercover operators in there, just too
high a safety risk. So that's one of the places we're going to be
targeting in the new year, and we're just going to have to do that one
a different way."