Grand Forks moves to push remaining Ambassador residents out
Apr. 16—Grand Forks city staff have moved to bar people from continuing to reside at the Ambassador Motel.
City Attorney Dan Gaustad on Thursday asked a Grand Forks District Court judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would require the immediate evacuation of the motel, which sits on the 2000 block of South Washington Street. The case was assigned to Judge Jay Knudson.
City inspectors found a bevy of health and safety problems when they inspected the motel last month, and, last week, they declared it unsafe to occupy. Grand Forks administrators told motel residents to leave by Monday evening, but later extended that deadline to Tuesday.
Still, several people have stayed at the Ambassador throughout the week. Some don't want to leave at all, others hope to stay as long as they can, and others are still working out where they'll head next. A restraining order would put further legal oomph behind the city's declaration, and could precipitate a police action to empty the motel.
The motel has been in poor condition for years and police are often called to the location. City inspectors found deteriorated fire alarm systems, exposed styrofoam insulation in the basement walls, and visible mold growth.
"Collectively, the violations, defects and dilapidated and deterioration (sic) condition of the property render the property a dangerous building or structure and unsafe," Gaustad wrote in a brief in support of the motion for a restraining order.
On Thursday evening, about a dozen of the Ambassador's 34 residents remained. A rumor had circulated among tenants there that police were scheduled to kick them out around 4:30 p.m., but it did not come to pass.
"Every day we stay here it saves us the cost of a motel room somewhere else. So we will be able to stay in that one longer," Brandie Baker, who's lived at the motel with her 20-year-old daughter and two-year-old son for about a year and a half, said on Thursday evening. "That's longer we will have a roof over our heads. And more time to figure out our next step."
Angela Kramchuck has lived at the Ambassador with her boyfriend Tim since July. She said it's tough to move into a new place quickly.
"They want us to get out right away," Kramchuck said, "but where do you go?"
