Residents celebrate closure of local inn [Video]

PHOENIX — Residents near I-17 and West Bethany Home Road have new hope for their community now that the U.S. Attorney shut down a local hotel that was a center of crime.

With boards over windows and doors the Royal Inn is no more.

“Kids walking to school everyday and seeing prostitutes lined up like fast food operation here on Palo Verde and that’s not right,” Jeff Spellman.

“This makes me very proud to get rid of this hotel because of what it was doing to the neighborhood,” Betty Guardado said.

Guardado is the Phoenix District Five Councilwoman. She says the property had been a haven for drugs, prostitution and other crime for too long.

“It took away that lifestyle, that healthy lifestyle where parents want their kids to be riding …