JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The owner of Home 1 Great Stay, the motel formerly known as the Gold Rush Inn, is scheduled to appear before the Jacksonville Public Nuisance Abatement Board on April 27 to defend against accusations that the motel presents a danger to the community.
Under city code, something is considered a “nuisance” when it decreases the quality of life, safety and health of its neighborhood, when it presents a financial and operational burden on the city from repeated calls for service, and/or when it hurts the value of adjacent properties.
In this case, the complaint made by city council member Reggie Gaffney Jr. was that felony drug activity consistently happens at the motel.
The calls for the motel to be closed and demolished come after a body was found in the motel just months after it was taken over by new management.
In the first three months of the year, JSO has been called to the property 52 times, according to department records, and has been shut down at least once in the past.
Gaffney is in a runoff election to retain his city council seat, challenged by fellow-Democrat Tameka Gaines Holly, a retired JSO officer.
The motel’s new manager, Gloria Glover, said she believes the former ‘Gold Rush Inn’ represents an easy political target for Gaffney Jr., who is engaged in a run-off election to retain his city council seat.
Glover said she and her team have been working hard to shake the motel’s bad reputation.
“We do know that that hotel has some really really prior bad incidents and prior things that have happened under that old name,” Glover said. “Again, we are doing everything under our power to make sure that we get rid of that negative impact that that area had.”