EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The City of El Paso held a news conference on Thursday, Sept. 19, with several City leaders and departments to discuss the closure of the trouble-riddled downtown establishment, the Gateway Hotel.
The shutdown came after District Court Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza signed a 90-day temporary injunction on Sept. 9 due to allegations from the County Attorney’s Office claiming the hotel was a public nuisance and hotbed of criminal activity. Most notably, gang activity from the Venezuelan based crime organization Tren de Aragua (TDA.)
During Thursday’s conference, Mayor Oscar Leeser shot down State official’s claims that El Paso is ‘ground zero’ for gang activity.
“The Gateway Hotel was not closed down because of immigration laws or anything. It was closed down because of the quality of life and some of the things that the hotel owner had not done and had not upgraded and had not finished. So, it’s got a lot to do with the hotel, the condition of the hotel and the things that needed to be brought up to standards that were not,” said Leeser.
“There’s been one known TDA member and there’s eight criteria. So, if you meet two out of the eight for any gangs, that’s how they’re associated. The federal government got involved and they’re no longer in the U.S. We do have our gang task forces that are out seven days a week, 24 hours a day. They know all the movement. So, we’re talking about our community. Our community is very safe,” he said.
According to the City there were 693 calls made over the past two years concerning the Gateway Hotel, but they were not all emergency calls which is why officials say there were no red flags triggered.
“It’s trash in the alleyway. It’s rubbish. It’s people in the street, on the sidewalk, maybe public intoxication. It’s a mix of calls. It’s anything that was called for service from the city of El Paso, whether it’s our environmental teams, our police, fire, however that may be,” said Mario D’Agostino, Deputy City Manager.
Despite the number of health code violations alleged in the lawsuit, the City says the hotel owners were coordinating inspections since 2018 and requesting permits. According to the City, these warranted only minor corrections to the facility, and their permitting divison was not inspecting the establishment on a yearly basis.
“Our obligation is to continue working with an establishment owner so long as there’s progress being made to rehabilitate the building,” said Tony De La Cruz with the Planning and Inspections Department.
“We are not in the business of closing down businesses. We want people to comply with the laws and follow the ordinances that the city has set… this has been a process with the county Attorney’s Office building a case on this hotel,” said Chief Peter Pacillas with the El Paso Police Department.
“That’s how we got to this point. Patrol officers, we were getting calls down there, different types of, minor criminal activities. We’ve made some arrests there, and we started seeing different issues going on down there. So, we brought in different task forces, with our gang unit, which works out of the tank, which has both local, state and federal partners that come in and help address gang issues across the city of El Paso,” he said.
“When we look at something like the Gateway Hotel and some of the things that are going on, we can look at policies, change policy, make sure that we learn and get better from it. hat’s the thing that’s really important and that’s what we’re looking at as a team. We’ve been meeting, you know, for days now. How do we improve our policies? How do we make sure that there is a red flag a lot sooner,” said Leeser.
The City nor the department leaders present at the conference gave specific details on how they plan to move forward, only that they are coordinating with the City Manager’s Office and other partners to address this issue.
“Overall crime is down 3% compared to the same time last year. The same with the fatalities, same time last year, we had 55 fatalities, right now, 45. That’s still 45 people that have lost their lives. But El Paso is a safe community,” said Pacillas.
A permanent injunction hearing for the hotel will be held on Dec. 9, according to the judge’s order.
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