hey good morning I'm Scot sh B we're here at the Mosley Motel in 34th Street STG I think most people are familiar with the background here uh the property's going to for closure for a number of years uh the court issued an order last week with a final order of addiction for all the residents at one point there were over 400 people living here including families with very very young children infants a lot of pets Etc uh through a collaborative effort with the city of St Petersburg pellis County and other social service providers we've had great success and getting the majority of the people moved out and into other facilities um we worked very hard especially uh since Wednesday of last week knowing that the deadline was here uh the original deadline would have been probably Friday morning uh we extended that to give a weekend to get more and more people plac this is a balance uh between respecting property rights and the owner's interest in the property which they certainly have and also making sure that we accomplish this in a dignified and Humane and compassionate way for these people that don't have any other place to live uh the conditions here are not good in fact the conditions here are pretty horrible and it's probably best that these people do move on and they get into better suited housing especially for the young kids so we've had great success over the weekend um as of the end of last week we still had about 100 people here again qu you families with young children and pets uh right now the best count we have we have probably two or three rooms that are still occupied and Sheriff's depes are getting ready to go door to door and make sure that all the rooms that are not boarded up uh are in fact vacant and anybody that is here uh will escort them off the property and get them to a place where they can stay um this morning uh we had Vans here we did provide transportation to some including to pel St Harbor uh some families to St Vincent theal uh and other places so we're going to continue with our efforts and make sure we do this in again a Humane and a compassionate way but we have to respect the property owners rights and their in the court order and that's where we're affected here this morning so I'm happy to take any questions anybody has regarding the deplorable conditions that are here how did it get to this point and was there anything that any city or county agency could have done to make sure that we living right well you know I think you have to direct those questions in the city of St petersburgo this is in the city uh and from why I understand the city has been aware of this and code enforcement has been aware of it and I believe they have issued some violations as far as the status of those violations you know if you haven't I believe you have and the media's had an opportunity to be on the property I know the owners don't want the media inside today and on the property which again we all you have to respect their their wishes in that regard but I've been through it I can tell you it's nasty it is absolutely one of the worst situations I've ever seen uh just the it's not something that people should be living in so it is probably better uh that they do move on but as far as um what's been done uh and how it occurred in the past you really need to direct this question to the city of St do you know if there are who don't have a place to go I know there's three kids and a family right here sitting under a tree do you know what the status is of everything yeah actually those people are waiting for a ride um and as soon as the ride comes uh there's a very simple issue there's a car that was locked out in fact they W for triple unlock the car and then they'll get a ride so we're making sure special as it relates to families and people with young kids this is the last thing in the world we wanted that's why we have done this and conducted it in the way we have is we don't want anybody on the street uh especially families especially kids that's why Animal Services to make sure all the pets are cared for ETC it's very important to be done that way and that we respect these people and that they have a do this in a dignified way and we've done everything possible to make sure and accomplish that so it's a real credit to all of the uh social service providers to the City of St Petersburg and their homeless services vanellis county their homeless services and everybody coming together to make sure this is done in the way that these will be done again the backdrop though is is the property rights are important also so we have to the company that owns it the business that owns it do respect their right develop their property so but again when you look at the property it needed to change uh because this is not a place where people should be live why are people still here is that three room yeah you know and but again you know a lot of the people who are here um uh would otherwise make up that probably that chronic homeless population and there's a whole as of last night then people were out here drinking and that's what they do so a whole variety of reasons and and some of them probably have some mental health issues they certainly have some substantive ISU issues ETC but that's part of that whole chronic homeless population and uh what work with them and get them someplace uh we don't want them on the street and um if they need a little bit of an extra nudge here this morning uh you know it comes a point in time where you have to draw the line um and we have pushed that line uh as far as it can be pushed and this morning is the line so uh they know and we'll help them out this morning you know how many pets you've taken or that are have people ask well I can tell you you know that one point last week there were hundreds here uh dog and cats and all kinds of pets you know I know that they were able to take a few out here in the last few days the exact numbers I don't know the exact numbers but I can tell you that at one point uh there were as many pets here as there were people so uh but again this has been an ongoing process now for a period of time to get people out to transition them into housing to transition them with their with their pets and again pelis county has been fantastic in animal services and making sure that the pets have a place to stay even if where the people are going they don't take the pets so that they can then transition with their with their pets you mentioned the conditions a little bit but I what was going through your head when you walk for the first time you saw kids you sawet you saw people living in these ofs what were you thinking well it's disgusting and it's sad you know you can see behind me you get a flavor of it you know what you see behind me is with the rest of the property is probably worse in some respects inside of these rooms where you got I don't know a couple hundred square fet six and seven people living especially with kids so very sad uh it was my first reaction to it and really sad that kids are living in this environment but it's the nature of what it is and you know this is not unique this is a big problem homelessness is a big problem in this County uh and in this state and in the country and there's a lot of people that are making great efforts and accomplishments are being made but there's a lot of work to be done um because people should be living like this especially young kids you and then we wonder why some of these kids will grow up uh to become criminal justice involved and have the problems they do it's because of where they're coming from and the environment they growing up sheriff is this a blessing in disguise in a way these people will eventually get a new and perhaps a better start from what they had here well I certainly hope so uh because this is nasty you know there's just no other way to describe it you know and I'll be one about it tell you it's a dump and and it needs and people shouldn't be living in this you know I walk through this morning and smell what I smell and see what I see people should be living in that it was disgusting it's gross other Hotel should other hotels be warned that there may be facing closure eventually well no because that's not what this is about you know this is this is because uh the property was in foreclosure it was purchased by a property owner uh who then has rights to the property and they wanted these people out so that they say they could tear it down redevelop it whatever they're going to do with it so this isn't people being evicted because of the conditions this is people being evicted because there's a property owner that's rights are being protected by the courts properly and that we have an obligation to force the Court's order to return this property to its now rightful owner have they announced what they're going to do with this you know what will they build in its place I don't know you know they've stated publicly that they were going to tear it down and beyond that I don't know anything else can you describe a couple of things that stood out to you when you walked through here what did you see trash lots of it just squalled conditions stench the just it's just very dirty uh nasty the road Ro well I I didn't see those but you know it's just it is a very very poor condition and you know the rooms are just disgusting all right if nobody has any other questions and we probably won't update anymore uh unless something changes what I Envision now is the deputies are going through what we hope is that everybody is out uh if we find those couple that are not then we will help them get to where they need to be and then turn the property over uh to the property owners and I understand that they you know they've already fenced it they're going to keep it fenced and it'll be in the private property owner's hand so that will include our our involment and Our obligation over the law to return the property to them say two rooms or three well we're still trying to again and I don't want to because we don't know is is that we have a whole host of Roads rooms that were as of last week were still open and we've made a lot of effort over the weekend to get people out of those rooms but the property owners stopped boarding the room so a lot of them are boarded so we're going to go to all the rooms that are not boarded up and check each one and make sure the people are out by our best estimate is that it's two or three that may still be occupied this morning um but until we go room to room and do those checks and clear each of those rooms I can't tell you with certainty the exact number but it's probably two or and I certainly hope it's no more than that uh but by the time we leave here today it'll be zero and nobody will be here and they'll be in full possession in proper thank you thank you thank you sir thank you for