BY ANITA STIEFEL | THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — “Less than 24 hours’ notice, and now what are we supposed to do?” asked 61-year-old Donald Preston, who along with more than a hundred other residents of the Springwood Hotel in Opelika were forced onto the street Tuesday morning.
With tears in her eyes, a young mother nearby stood with her four children while her husband thanked the front desk clerk, saying the family found a place to sleep tonight in nearby Valley.
“Thank the Lord we have a car to get there,” he said as he shuffled his family out of the office.
Some of the displaced residents sat on the sidewalk, surrounded by suitcases and baskets of clothes, waiting for a ride. Others just paced and shook their heads, saying they have nowhere else to go and no way of getting there.
“I’ve got four kids, ages 15, 14, 12 and 9, and I don’t know where we’re going to sleep tonight,” said Dorothy Pennyamon, who has been staying at the Springwood Hotel for the past seven or so months. She said she has no family that is willing to help her, and that she’s gone down the list of phone numbers the school gave her to call for assistance with no results.
“Nobody will answer, or they say they don’t have the resources to help us,” she said. “How can this be?”
The hotel was the topic of a public hearing at the Sept. 3 Opelika City Council meeting, where council members discussed a resolution to revoke the business license of BRP Hospitality LLC, doing business as Springwood Hotel, because of building code violations and reports of criminal activity. After a four hour public hearing, the council voted to table the matter and take it back up at its Oct. 1 meeting.
Springwood Hotel General Manager Dhruv (Dru) Shah said his family leased the property from the owner and has been managing the business, located on Columbus Parkway at I-85 Exit 62. He said some improvements have been made and more are planned.
Shah said he was told that by Wednesday, Sept. 11, the city would provide him with a list of repairs to be made at the hotel.
Instead, he said, at approximately 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 9, Opelika Building Inspector Jeff Kappelman came to the hotel with Special Agent Jay Brice of the Criminal Investigations Division of the Alabama State Fire Marshal’s office, who threatened to arrest the Shahs if they didn’t vacate the hotel within 24 hours.
“He [Brice] said, ‘Everybody has to leave, and you have to make sure the buildings are vacated, otherwise I’m coming back to put you in jail’,” Shah said.
The Observer reached out to the Alabama Fire Marshal’s office, and Public Information Officer Jennifer Bowen issued the following statement: “The hotel decided to voluntarily close based on the results of a recent inspection. There is no closure order in place at this time.”
“That’s not true,” said Shah. “He said he would put us in jail.”
When asked by The Observer to clarify what took place, Brice said he “told him [Shah] if he didn’t comply with a voluntary shutdown and evacuate all the tenants then he would have been incarcerated.”
The Shahs took exception with Brice’s use of the word voluntary, saying they were coerced — that they did not “volunteer” to kick out their residents with less than 24 hours’ notice.
Brice said the removal of renters was “all due to life safety violations” but declined to provide examples of any violations. When asked to see paperwork regarding the violations, he abruptly ended the interview. The Shahs said they received no written orders this week but were compelled to do what they were told.
“The city and state had us displace 120 people, 30 of them under the age of 14,” Shah said. “Most of the long-term tenants have kids. We have victims of domestic violence. It’s upsetting, and I cannot believe how they kicked them all out overnight.
“The city council tabled the issue, and I don’t know why they couldn’t wait until Oct. 1,” Shah said. “I’m upset about the city not following what they say. If they’re going to give us 30 days, then it’s not fair to shut us down before then.”
When asked about the situation, Kappelman referred The Observer to Leigh Krehling, the community relations officer with the Opelika Mayor’s office for comment. Krehling was able to verify that Kappelman did meet with the state fire marshal’s agent at the hotel on Monday, Sept. 9 and referred The Observer to the state fire marshal’s office for information pertaining to the results of the inspection by the fire marshal’s special agent.
Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller also released the following statement:
“We are aware of the situation. After last week’s city council meeting, we reviewed all evidence presented and based on liability due to safety concerns, Opelika Fire Chief Shane Boyd reached out to the State Fire Marshal for his expert opinion. As a result of that, we were notified yesterday afternoon that the Alabama State Fire Marshal would be shutting down the Springwood Hotel today due to safety concerns. Our Opelika Police Department’s social services team is out at the hotel and are attempting to assist long-term hotel residents with available resources in our community. We’ve spoken with the OPD team and there are around 10 families that have requested assistance.”
Capt. Tony Amerson of the Opelika Police Department was on site at the hotel Tuesday. He told The Observer he was there “to observe and assess the situation.” He and the OPD Social Worker Coordinator Yarbi Cound listened to displaced residents as they expressed their frustration.
Impriesha Roanokes said she and her two children, ages 8 and 2, were staying at the Springwood Hotel while awaiting housing assistance. She said they are on the waiting list at both the Auburn Housing Authority and the Housing Authority of Opelika.
“I’ve been on the waiting lists for more than a year,” she said. “I’m further up on the list in Auburn, but they can’t tell me when something will be available.”
“Where’s the help?” asked Preston. “I’ve donated to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army over the years, but now when I need help, where is it? Where are the churches?”
Preston said he lost a day’s wages because instead of working he had to spend his time packing up his belongings and finding somewhere else to live. He has no car, but since his job is only two blocks away from the Springwood Hotel, living there for the past five years has enabled him to walk to work.
Shah said the hotel on Monday refunded more than $3,000 to renters who had prepaid for the week. Even though there are other hotels and motels nearby, Preston said they are not affordable.
“They know all these people here are about to need a place to stay, so they all jacked up their prices,” Preston said. “Plus, they charge more right now because it’s football season. This is just wrong, how they’ve done people,” he said. “Where’s the help?”
As word spread of the situation, some individuals showed up to see if they could help, including Dr. Nate Dunlap of the PRF Teaching Ministry.
“I got a call asking about resources for 100 people who were going to be put out of the hotel today,” Dunlap said. “I wanted to find out more information about what was actually going on, because as a nonprofit ministry I know that we are called on to serve. Our organization does not typically do emergency-type situations — but this is an emergency.”
He said he intends to bring the matter to the attention of other ministers in the area in hopes they can all come together and help. He said he also wanted to be on site as a voice of calm and to bring a message of hope.
“My statement is this: Maybe this is that one situation that had to happen, unfortunately, to make us come together as a community in a way we have not before,” Dunlap said. “This is an ongoing situation. I was at the city council meeting. I was there. This is an ongoing problem. We talk about homelessness in the community, but now these people are homeless. We have to address it.”
