(WSBT) Barnaby most recently lived at the Wooden Indian Motel. It's a place some people say is more than a nuisance — it's trouble.

Time and time again police have been called out here. The city says it wants to change that, but it's not that easy.

A shooting like this could happen at the Holiday Inn,” said Wooden Indian Motel resident Anthony Franklin. “Does this mean it's a bad place, the Marriott, does this mean it's a bad place. I don't think so."

Franklin feels safe enough at the Wooden Indian Motel to have his three children here.

“It's nice and quiet you know, the kids they play down there, they play up here," he added.

But weapons, drugs and aggravated assaults are just some of the problems that have plagued this motel. In the last year police have been called here 109 times.

It's not a secret that it's not the best place in town,” said Common Council member Heath Weaver. “We need to pursue all avenues to clean up the (Wooden) Indian Motel."

But the city says its hands are tied.

“We don't have the current tools to take any kind of drastic step with respect to either closing it down or restrict the way it operates at this time," South Bend City Attorney Chuck Leone said.

Leone said the problems are with the people who stay here, not the owner, Ronald Koehler.

“The owner at the current time is in compliance with the law,” Leone added. “He has at various times in the past been in non compliance, and then in fact came back into compliance very quickly."

Leaving police for now patrolling through here more frequently and serving as a reminder of what has happened and that people are waiting for a change.

“I know there's been a few problems but to me any place you live in a poor community, you're going to have people doing stupid things to get by," Tamey Cunningham, another Wooden Indian Motel resident, said Wednesday.

In February, the motel passed fire and building inspections and the owner's motel license was renewed. But that's also where the city says it is looking to make changes.

Options include stricter requirements, making the owner have more measures in place for the people who stay at the motel.