The city of Fort Worth has filed a lawsuit claiming a Las Vegas Trail motel is a public nuisance and should be ordered to close.
The suit, against the owners of the Knights Inn, is the latest effort by the city to improve conditions in the troubled West Fort Worth neighborhood.
Police have been called to the motel 80 times over the last two years, according to the lawsuit.
"We just need a place that's safe. It doesn't have to be the Ritz-Carlton," said Fort Worth Councilman Brian Byrd, who is leading the charge to clean up the area.
The lawsuit accuses the motel and its owner, Anil Patidar, of failing to address "habitual criminal activity."
In October, city attorneys summoned Patidar and his wife to city hall and warned them a lawsuit was coming after a laundry list of code violations.
"And we do work with Code and we do work with Compliance to help them and to fix and address any issues that are there at the property," Patidar’s wife said at the time.
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The couple did return a phone call on Wednesday seeking comment.
The motel isn't the only business the city is going after.
Just last month, Fort Worth filed a similar case against the nearby Mira Monte Apartments, saying it, too, should be closed down.
Dakota Stewart pays $580 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.
"It's terrible," Stewart said. "The rats, just this morning, were tearing into, they were getting into my ramen noodles and my food. I mean, they try to come in during the day. At night, there's roaches everywhere. They don't want to clean up the place."
He said crime is also out of control.
"Everybody is getting shot, stabbed, robbed. I mean, drug dealers are out everywhere," he said. "It's not safe around here. I have to carry a pocket knife everywhere I go."
Council member Byrd said the city is committed to working with the neighborhood to improve conditions.
"It is a long-term project," he said. "We aren't going away. We want to see transformation there little by little."
