Thursday, November 3, 2022

Studio 7 Gets Lucky

 One step forward, two steps back is the best way to describe Jackson's effort to shut down a dilapidated hotel on I-55 frontage road in North Jackson.   WLBT reported:

Hours after law enforcement personnel descended on a Jackson hotel to evict tenants and shut the facility down, a Hinds County judge has ruled the city did not have the authority to do so.

County Court Judge Johnnie McDaniels called the city’s actions and initial arguments during a Wednesday status hearing “troubling,” pointing out that a July order that justified the actions was no longer in force.

The July order, issued by Municipal Court Judge Jeff Reynolds, said conditions at Studio 7, an extended-stay hotel located off Interstate 55, violated several city ordinances with regard to safety.

The order specifically lobbed some of these charges at Latoya Bunzy, the facility’s manager, for violating fire codes.

Deputy Fire Chief Elliot Holmes, who served as Chief Fire Marshal during the investigation, said the building’s manual fire alarm system had not worked since last September.

The order also said Studio 7 would have to be shut down until it came back into compliance with those codes.

Bunzy’s attorney appealed the municipal action, which sent the case to county court.... Article and video.

 Bunzy filed a motion to dismiss on September 15.  The crux of the defendant's argument is: 

The charges against Ms. Bunzy should be dismissed on several grounds. First, Ms. Bunzy is employed as a Front Desk Clerk. She is not the owner or operator of Studio 7 motel. (Affidavit - Exhibit 2) More importantly, “Art. II Fire Prevention Sec 58-56” — the code section that the municipal judge determined that Ms. Bunzy was guilty of violating — is “Reserved” and does not currently exist.

The city did not file a response to the motion.  

 Judge McDaniels shot several holes in the case as well. 

McDaniels asked those same questions to Deputy City Attorney Jeffrey Graves, going back and forth with him for nearly thirty minutes during the hearing.

At several points, one could see the nervousness and awkward pauses from Graves as he tried to justify the city’s actions.

“Everything that’s been done since July 14, is considered a continuing violation. And I just think that’s absolutely within the city’s, the fire marshal’s enforcement powers and the city’s position that it’s a continuing violation,” Graves said.

McDaniels didn’t buy it, reminding the city that the appeal to a higher court prevents any further enforcement of the ruling that came from a lower court - in this case, Jackson Municipal Court.

 Judge McDaniels blocked enforcement of the order.    

Kingfish note: Surprise, surprise.  Guess who owns the hotel. 

 


 

 


 

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ain’t none of y’all right wing nut jobs gone welcome these evicted poor people into your homes. They gone live on the streets and get abused even more. Y’all love the free market so much but now y’all are shutting down the only businesses that provide housing for a price that these people can afford. It’s about to get cold outside. Where y’all going to house these folks?

Anonymous said...

@9:00 am... can they stay at your house?

Anonymous said...

Judge McDaniels should go spend one night at that "hotel" . . . Jackson's problems with that drug infested rat hole would be solved by sunrise the next morning.

Anonymous said...

"Ain’t none of y’all right wing nut jobs gone welcome these evicted poor people into your homes. They gone live on the streets and get abused even more. Y’all love the free market so much but now y’all are shutting down the only businesses that provide housing for a price that these people can afford. It’s about to get cold outside. Where y’all going to house these folks?"

How many are you housing?

Anonymous said...

Boy, I sure would be proud to know that I went to law school only to attract clients like the owner of this flop house motel!

Anonymous said...

I'm not saying I agree with shutting it down and I see merit in 9:00's points.
But anyone that speaks in such absolutes is not worth much attention.

So 9:00 says leave the hotel open.

What if you owned the business next door and vagrants and drug dealers were making it impossible for your business to thrive?
What if you live near this unmaintained motel and your home values were plummeting.


Its really easy for liberal minds to demand human rights when it does not inconvenience them in any way or affect their bank accounts. I prefer to at least attempt an unbiased look at the problem before I label all Democrats are lunatics.

Anonymous said...

More evidence of an incompetent city administration. Who would take a job as a deputy city attorney for Jackson? Who would want that on their resume?

Anonymous said...

This place needs to be shut down along with all the other drug motels along I-55. Its not just homeless but drug dealers working out of the rooms. I don't understand why the police can't go in and raid the place. Its obvious what is going on.

Anonymous said...

@9:00 AM

I don't see left wingers offering their houses to these people either.

Anonymous said...

Just like ain’t none of y’all left wing nut jobs gonna welcome all these illegal immigrants in your homes, y’all already crying about it.

EFGAlterEgo said...

9:00 AM
We'll put them in your house. You seem the most welcoming.

Anonymous said...

@9:00 am, how many of them will you take in?

Anonymous said...

@9:00 AM, isn't that the job of the Chukster and his ilk as they aim to make Jacktown the most radical city ever??

Anonymous said...

@ 9:00 Ah yes, the "right wing nut jobs" are running the City of Jackson. People always forget the tight grip the GOP has on city politics.

Anonymous said...

@9:00 I'm not sure the "City of Jackson" is your typical right wing nut job. You make a valid point, but let's try again with that first sentence.

Anonymous said...

The right wing nut jobs running the city of Jackson? Got it.

Also, I can hear the cries and gnashing of teeth now when this hotel burns to the ground with tenets in it because of those evil business owners taking advantage of po folks.

There is no winning an argument with you.

Anonymous said...

@9:00am
Baby, it's cold outside" is irrelevant if ClapTrap Motel, while burning down due to known Fire Code and Building Code violations, injures and kills people. That's why Building and Fire Departments have police powers: to save lives.

Anonymous said...

I agree that the place should be closed, but the fact that you can't run people out, literally with a pitch fork, pursuant to sn order that is under appeal is Lawyering 101. It's also Fire Marshaling 101. It seems that a water system, sewer system, airports and contracting aren't the only things that the City of Jackson can't manage.

Anonymous said...

"Friends, don't worry. We shall find haven for you in our own homes...and it won't cost you one cent more than regular hotel rates."

Anonymous said...

@ November 3, 2022 at 9:00 AM

You sound like a troll intending to cast guilt. It is a transient hotel that is noncompliant with fire codes. How, if assuming you are sincere, will you and others of your ilk, feel when a fire breaks out and people are injured or die?

Anonymous said...

Why argue about it. The people who want it shut down should provide a place for the people living there. Why would the people who want the police to leave them alone invite them into their home? They are not putting the people out on the street. It is the fault of the city to begin with. They let people stop traffic to beg for money. If the city is going to attract these type of people they should have a place for them to live.

Anonymous said...

This is great news for Chowke's "dope boys."

Anonymous said...

A fire hazard is a fire hazard.

The Fire Marshall understand that, but this judge is apparently too stupid to grasp the concept.

Anonymous said...

Some here don't acknowledge the horrors that fire causes, especially to people but also to property, and that the threat often travels to adjacent properties painfully injuring and killing others. Whole cities like New Orleans and Chicago have suffered extensive fires.

Shit-faced miscreant winos and whores with no heat will build fires on the floors of such buildings, or drag space heaters around connected to jerry rigged electrical lines.

Whatever lowlifes are living in a fire trap are better off shivering in a tent, in the woods, provided they don't start a forest fire.

Anonymous said...

A shame that City of Jackson does not have the staff or administrative support to conduct routine inspection
instead of letting the properties become uninhabitable. But the judge must follow the law. And the city should have recognized the outcome of the owners appeal.

Anonymous said...

instead of money for Ukraine, let’s get the homeless in this country access to mental health, hospitals, and education. we need to take care of people in this country first. that’s how we truly Make America Great Again.

Anonymous said...

Wont be long before a crack smoker burns it to the ground.

Anonymous said...

@12:20
You sound like one of those crazy people who said the same thing about all the trillions we sent to Iraq and Afghanistan! It’s not going to happen! Our politicians rule over us, they don’t serve us. They instead serve the global central bankers! And the global central bankers demand more debt!

Anonymous said...

Citing a statute that doesn't exist. Priceless.

Do you know what you call a person who graduated last in his class in law school? Deputy City Attorney.

Anonymous said...

1220 - you need to keep your bleeding heart up to date. The City of Jackson - America's Most Radical City, or at least on its way to that goal - has acquired several buildings in the city and provides housing for all those homeless folks you are concerned about. Those that want a place (inside) to sleep can have it for free, thanks to our city's concern. Granted, can't guarantee that they will have running water, or if the s**t flushed down the drain will make it to the treatment plant, but hey - that's true for all the other folks in Jackson who are living in buildings they bought and paid for with their own money, and on which they pay taxes so the city can provide these hotel rooms for your downtroden.

Anonymous said...

So who will buy the responsibility when this fire trap burns down killing people inside?

Anonymous said...

Send the Ho's on up to our deer camp on Dummy Line Road just of the trace. We got five 3 bedroom trailers that are empty and we needing some servicing tenants.

Anonymous said...

Had some of these landlords try to retain me once.

I refused.

Anonymous said...

3:02, you'll likely catch "chronic wasting disease".

Anonymous said...

@7:12 PM - Did you mean CLAP vs. CWD?

merckywaters said...

2:26 - name em...Identify em... where these facilities located?
I havent read that in the news

Anonymous said...

Existing Businesses need to get with the city and state and feds and start the process of acquiring these type properties and level them.


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