KENT, Washington (KING) — Business owners and residents in Kent, Washington have called the old Econo Lodge motel on Central Avenue North somewhat of a headache.
“The police were here most every night,” said Mark Scarff, the president of a nearby car dealership. “It’s a hot spot for crime, drug activity, buying, selling, using.”
Scarff assumed that when the motel shut down, things in the area would get better.
Instead, last week he got a call from Kent mayor Dana Ralph dropping a bombshell.
“She said, ‘I have some really troubling news. I was just informed that King County is purchasing the hotel just north of us and they’re gonna use it for coronavirus victims.’”
The motel’s location, on a major thoroughfare at the gateway of Kent, King County’s fourth-largest city, has business owners in the area concerned.
Scarff and several other business owners on the block surrounding the motel released a letter opposing the location as a quarantine site.
“They have done absolutely nothing to make the building sanitary or safe,” said Scarff. “It’s just not a well-thought-out plan. It’s a knee-jerk reaction.”
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