UPDATE: Val U Stay closed by city due to living conditions

The full press conference can be viewed in the video player above.

UPDATE: THURSDAY 4/25/2024 1:30 p.m.

(PUEBLO, Colo.) — Mayor of Pueblo Heather Graham said the Val U Stay Inn & Suites located off Highway 50 and North Hudson Avenue was served a cease and desist order by the City due to the poor living conditions.

Mayor Graham said the hotel has not had a license for lodging in Pueblo for the last four months after it failed an inspection. Graham said no one should be living in the conditions found at Val U Stay and the City is working with nonprofits to find shelter for the people who have been displaced.

“To allow my community members to live in the filth, its devastating, as far as I’m concerned this person should be thrown in federal prison,” said Mayor Graham.

The Pueblo Police Department (PPD) said the inspection started at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 25 and the police presence was for the safety of the people being displaced and for the inspectors entering the buildings.

PPD said the area is known for a high level of criminal activity. “There’s been murders here, there’s been drug dealing… there’s times where almost most of the vehicles recovered that are stolen, are located here,” said Sergeant Frank Ortega of PPD.

ORIGINAL STORY: Police presence at hotel in Pueblo’s East Side

THURSDAY 4/25/2024 11:44 a.m.

The Pueblo Police Department (PPD) said more information about police presence at Val U Stay Inn and Suites in Pueblo’s East Side neighborhood will be provided in the afternoon of Thursday, April 25.

The hotel is located off Highway 50 and North Hudson Avenue. There is a press conference scheduled for 1 p.m. on Thursday and FOX21 will be in attendance.

FOX21 will stream the press conference live in the video player above once it begins.

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