Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson wants the shutdown of a Route 60 motel notorious for violent incidents.

“I have called for the immediate closure and abandonment of the property on Route 60 formerly known as the Econo Lodge,” Ferguson declared during his mayoral report at a Board of Trustees meeting Monday.

The Chautauqua County Department of Social Services houses homeless people at the motel, who are the majority of its tenants. Ferguson has long decried both the allegedly bad conditions of the property and the series of violent incidents that have taken place there, including an August 2024 shooting. The Econo Lodge motel chain took its name off the property in 2025.

Ferguson said, “I have asked the county to safely separate the women and children and make sure they have somewhere safe to live, and separate them from the rapists, pedophiles and drug dealers and others that have been allowed to stay in that hotel with them.”

The mayor added: “We had our (police) officers go into that building twice this week with our code enforcement, and it was deplorable — the amount of mold, the amount of damage, literally people asking patrolmen to take them out of there safely.”

Ferguson stated that “The damage is bad enough that we’re going to have to condemn the building and probably the owners will have to have it razed.”

The mayor continued, “We do this not to move people down the road, that’s not the case at all. We do this to help people, because they’re not getting the programming that they deserve… not in a safe environment that’s conducive to raising children and their families. We want to give them an opportunity to flourish. I’ve asked for a full report on where folks will be taken.”

Ferguson noted that there have been recent meetings with state and local officials about the local homeless problem, with housing suggestions floated. He seemingly had one of his own: “We know that Heritage Village in Gerry (a nursing home) has closed. That is a place with full apartments with bathrooms and kitchens.”

Ferguson concluded that closing the former Econo Lodge is necessary for the people there “and for the safety of our community.”