Checking into the Capri

Committee will examine activity at Lynbrook motel

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A newly formed committee will look into activities at the Capri Lynbrook Motor Inn to determine whether its room rental license should be revoked, Mayor Bill Hendrick announced at a Sept. 12 village board meeting.

The committee consists of Deputy Mayor Alan Beach and Village Trustees Hilary Becker, Mike Hawxhurst and Ann Marie Reardon, who will serve as hearing officers and take testimony from law enforcement personnel about activities in and around the hotel. At a public hearing in the near future, committee members will decide on a potential revocation of the owners’ license, Hendrick said.

“We are forming a committee, which we have to do under law, to examine the Capri’s license because of various illegalities going on there,” Hendrick said. “We’ve had a certain amount of crimes that might have been committed, and … we have formed a committee to look into it.” The trustees also hope to consult with a hotel management expert.

If the room rental license were revoked, the hotels’ owners would retain the property, but would not be able to rent rooms.

For at least a decade the Herald has reported on arrests at the Capri on charges including assault, robbery, prostitution and possession of controlled substances, stolen property and fireworks. The village began taking steps to decrease suspicious and criminal activity at the hotel in 2009, increasing police patrols and installing seven surveillance cameras.

“The Police Department is still assembling information,” Village Administrator John Giordano said. “They believe they have enough to warrant a revocation, but can’t do it until the committee has a hearing and allows the Capri to respond to it.”

According to village code, if there are three unlawful incidents within 90 days, such a committee can be formed. The law requires the committee to notify the owners at least two weeks prior to serving them notice to attend a hearing.

“We have, under law, a requirement that hotels operate and their guests act appropriately,” Hawxhurst said. “We have a law in the book that allows us to look at incidents if things occur over time.”

Incidents of crime at the hotel have moved many residents to demand that the village take action. There have been four drug-related arrests at the hotel, at least three of which occurred within the last three months.

If the committee revokes the Capri’s license, its management will have 30 days to appeal. If it loses the appeal, the owners can take their case to Nassau County Supreme Court.

“The case is getting stronger and stronger,” Village Attorney Peter Ledwith said. “This is going to be a war.”

“I think everyone in town on the low knows it’s a shady spot,” said Franchesca Guzman, a Lynbrook resident since 2007. “It doesn’t seem like the kind of place that a reputable person would ever stay at or take their family to. I do believe [managers] simply turn a blind eye to whatever goes on there.”

As for Capri management, they insist their hotel isn't different from any others around the country.

“He can do what he wants,” said Joe Pizzuto, general manager of the Capri, of Hendrick’s decision to form the committee. “I’m not opposed to it, it’s fine with me. Whatever he’s looking for is all over the world, not just at the Capri Lynbrook, so I’m not worried about it. It happens in every hotel, every motel.”

Pizzuto said that his staff monitors what goes on at the motel, and if something is wrong, they alert the authorities. “It happens all over the world ... just here, the mayor feels like he can do whatever he wants.”

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