SURREY LAUNCHES A CRACKDOWN ON MOTELS

Two parallel programs are being implemented to clean up errant hotels and
motels along the King George Hwy. that serve prostitutes and drug dealers.
The city is launching a carrot-and-stick initiative by clamping down on
hotels catering to an unwanted element.

Coun. Gary Tymoschuk, chair of the city's public safety committee, said
Monday hotels along King George Hwy. - mostly south of 92 Ave. - will soon
receive visits from city staff, including bylaw officers and building
inspectors, as well as police and staff from the health department.

Surrey council recently invited several motel owners to appear at city hall
in hopes of finding a way of keeping prostitutes and drug dealers from
using the establishments.

That improved the problem somewhat.

"Certainly it's become a bit of a problem again," Tymoschuk said Monday.

"So this time around the bylaw folks said, let's go about it from a
regulation point of view."

At the same time, bylaw officer Mike Murphy is encouraging the motel owners
to join an initiative similar to the crime-free multi-housing program,
which has proven successful in North Surrey.

The program encourages motel owners to participate in a course that
includes crime preventiontechniques, an appropriate guest registration
process, and employment issues.

"The motivation is to get them to clean up their properties and get them to
run a higher scale, respectable business," Tymoschuk said.

"I think it's important for every business owner to be complying with the
regulations and bylaws of the city, and if they're not, quite frankly, they
deserve to face whatever those ramifications are going to be."