ROCK HILL, S.C. — Paul Liparulo has worked maintenance at the Executive Inn on Anderson Road for a decade. He told Channel 9 that the owner has worked to make repairs the city has asked for.
"We've made many improvements. He's spent money left and right on the place," Liparulo said.
Drug agents busted three suspected drug dealers near a Channel 9 reporter on Friday afternoon at the Executive Inn on Anderson Road.
The Channel 9 reporter was working on a story on the motel being condemned when 10 cops ran by him with hands on their guns.
On Thursday, the city condemned the Executive Inn as unfit to live in, and placed bright orange signs on the more than 400 rooms at the aging motel.
Read more: Condemned hotel forces dozens of families to find new home
About 40 families who pay by the week to live here have seven days to move out. Elaine Kennington is one of them.
"Yes, this is a motel, but this is our home," she said.
She's called the Executive Inn home off and on 15 years and, to her, running water, food, cable and roof over her head is everything she needs.
She can't imagine finding a new home in a week.
"They're going to come back Friday and throw 40 families out with nowhere to go," Kennington said.
On Thursday, every resident or guest got a note explaining the reasons for the closure, and a list of shelters they could move to.
One man, who didn't want to give his identity, said he's already called them.
"I've called a couple of places on the list, and they're all full. I don't know what I'm going to do," he said.
Rock Hill city planners said this should come as no surprise. Bill Meyer said they've been working with the owners of the motel, since May, but have seen little progress toward bringing the business up to code.
An inspection found leaky roofs which grew mold, dilapidated stairs, crumbling floors, and a gas system that needs a complete overhaul.
Last month, inspectors started coming by weekly to look for progress.
"We would have hoped that the owner would have made much more progress at this point," Meyer said.
He called the efforts so far halfhearted, including several things clearly meant to hide problems rather than fix them.
"We'd find mold that was painted over, instead of dealt with, and you could clearly tell it had been painted over. Pictures hung over holes in the walls instead of fixing them," Meyer said.
Over the years, the Executive Inn has seen murder, meth labs in the rooms, prostitution, and even a man assaulted with a python in 2010, which made national news. The motel is mostly empty now, but Rock Hill police were still there 450 times last year to respond to calls.
However, city officials blame the conditions not the crime for the step they took this week.
Kennington said she understands the reasons for leaving, but was hopeful that the city would allow more than a week.
"Just give us more time to get together enough money to go," she said.
The city said after finding so many potentially dangerous structural problems with the motel, they had to get people out as quickly as possible for safety reasons.
The motel is now closed, and once all the families move out the owner will have time to make the needed repairs to bring the property up to code.