It was three years ago when Anthony Barrios moved with his wife from a gated community in Palm Harbor to a waterfront view property in New Port Richey.
“We’ve always wanted to live on the water, we figured we take our golden years and live on the water,” said Barrios.
But it’s a decision he now regrets.
“If I had known when I bought the house what I knew five to six months ago, I would have not moved,” said Barrios.
Barrios says he has witnessed drug deals and prostitution at the Travel Inn that is just a few blocks down from where he lives. It was enough to push Barrios as well as several other neighbors to ask the city for help.
“It’s not a good environment for anybody to live in,” Barrios said.
Last year the property was declared a public nuisance by the city.
“Normal patrol isn’t fully addressing it, we have to get to the root of the problem,” said New Port Richey Chief of Police, Kim Bogart.
Bogart said that within 10 months, they’ve had about 106 calls of service at the property.
The Travel Inn was ordered to come up with a plan that would make it a safe business or risk losing the business for good, but the city later discovered the motel failed to implement the plan within the required time frame.
Travel Inn faced a $2,500 fine and was ordered to temporarily shut their doors until they come up with a better plan to address nuisance activities.
The attorney representing Travel Inn just filed an emergency motion to hold off on that order, in hopes of having enough time to show the court that Travel Inn isn’t in violation of city codes.
The attorney argues that the criminal activity occurred around the motel and not at the motel.
New Port Richey police say they have enough evidence to prove that criminal activity was taking place at the hotel.