GILROY
– City Council members here may soon enact new laws to monitor
hotels, motels and massage parlors for criminal activity.
GILROY – City Council members here may soon enact new laws to monitor hotels, motels and massage parlors for criminal activity.
In one of the ordinances up for approval on Sept. 15, the city would force hotels and motels to keep a registry of every person who stays there. The hotel or motel would have to record each guest’s true name, address and either a date of birth or a government-issued identification number.
Police would have access to this list at any time, and it would be illegal for anyone to impede an officer wanting to see it. It would also be illegal for a guest to sign in under any name other than their true name or the name by which they are generally known.
This would be a proactive step toward “preventing the city from becoming a haven for the transient and unidentified criminal element who frequently use hotels as ‘headquarters’ for nefarious activities,” according to a draft of the proposed ordinance. “Hotel registration allows the city police department to monitor placement of newly released or relocated parolees and sex offenders within the city limits.”
“I think that’s fair,” said Pabitra Ghimire, manager of the Garlic Farm Inn, near U.S. 101’s Monterey Street exit. The Garlic Farm Inn already keeps such records, Ghimire said.
Rose Hernandez, who owns the Country Rose Inn Bed and Breakfast disagreed.
“When people go to a hotel, I’m sure it has never occurred to them that that information would be made available to the police department,” Hernandez said. “The thought that personal information about (a guest) would be supplied to police is not a very comforting thought.”
In another proposed ordinance, massage practitioners and establishments would have to get special permits from the police chief, with strict new requirements. Among other things, a massage practitioner would have to show a diploma from a recognized massage therapy school and submit to fingerprinting and a criminal record check.
Prostitution has been a problem in the past at “a small minority of massage establishments,” Police Chief Gregg Giusiana told City Administrator Jay Baksa in an Aug. 21 report. Police have revoked two parlors’ business licenses, Giusiana reported, and “the city finds that establishment of minimal professional qualifications and operating standards for massage practitioners and establishments will encourage the operation of legitimate massage therapy in the community.”
Each massage establishment, manager and practitioner in Gilroy would need a separate permit.
Police held a group meeting with a number of Gilroy massage therapists to discuss a previous draft ordinance. The therapists’ feedback was incorporated into this proposal, Giusiana said.
