WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – The closure on Friday of a west Wichita resulted in dozens of people leaving to find a new place to live.
On Friday, Wichita Police, Wichita Fire, the City of Wichita and Kansas State Fire Marshal shut down the Economy Hotel Plus on West Kellogg because of safety concerns. The Kansas State Fire Marshal said there were more than 100 violations in a post, including an emergency door being screwed shut.
The City of Wichita said the hotel has failed to fix issues, including fire code violations. There was also a concern about crime. There was a shooting at the hotel on Wednesday.
The closure has forced many people to relocate, including Tanya Sibley, who tells 12News that she, her daughter, her grandchild and her dog were staying there. She had gotten off work when she arrived to the police, fire and other official at the hotel and was given about 30 minutes to collect their belongings and leave.
Tanya Sibley said of her reaction to finding out about the closure, “Are you kidding? I thought it was a joke, and they were like you have 30 minutes to get your stuff, and then you gotta get out.”
She said, “I was like, ‘Well where are we going to go?’ and we were like, ‘well, what about all of our stuff?’ They told us that we could come back the next morning, so I showed up at 10 o’clock the next morning, and they won’t even let us on the property; they lied to us. We couldn’t even get anything.”
Sibley said this should have been handled better by the officials and hotel, given it was right before the weekend with cold temperatures. She said these concerns about the hotel were known for months, so she questions why this action was taken now.
Another frustration is that she said she had just paid for the room for the week, and that money hasn’t been returned.
“I have medication I have to take that’s in there. My glasses are in there. I mean, we literally left with the clothes on our backs and no answers,” said Sibley.
Sibley said a friend helped pay for another hotel so she and her daughter could stay there temporarily, but that is only paid through Monday. She doesn’t know about the next steps and said she was staying at the Economy Hotel Plus because it was a place she could afford that allowed her dog. Another of Sibley’s daughters has created a fundraiser to help with expenses and next steps.
Sunday, the Wichita Police Department provided an update and the following statement:
“Management has agreed to be on site during specific hours throughout the next week so people can gather their belongings.
We worked extensively on Friday to ensure people had time to gather important belongings, arranged for shelter for animals if necessary, arranged for transportation by City Transit vehicles and police cars, and ensured that every individual or family interested in shelter was accommodated. Some accommodations were even paid for out of HOT funds.
Our focus remains the safety of all Wichitans. It was clear based on the report from the Fire Marshal that the building was unsafe and management had not taken the appropriate steps to correct the issues, even with increased scrutiny over the last few months.”
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