If they are like the municipality I dealt with when I was chief engineer of an airport hotel, they won't get even, they will get ahead. The municipality was building new parking for airport expansion that they would financially benefit from and were not using the water trucks to water down the dirt to keep the dust down from the construction. This was a state law. I made the mistake of calling the municipality and complaining that the contractor wasn't following state law. This was causing our guests problems because the swimming pool was not usable because all the dust has settled in it and I personally had to wash some very expensive cars that were being covered with dust just from an overnight stay. Next thing I know the health department, the department that inspected our pool, and multiple other municipal agencies were in our building making surprise inspections. That taught me a lesson I'll never forget. They nitpicked us to death.
The Institute For Justice is my favorite nonprofit. I regularly donate to them. They're taking on the Government on so many fronts. They're simply great.
Ironically, having more sprawling, less compact businesses spread over larger areas without more revenue is going to lead to far less tax revenue compared to the cost of the infrastructure. Sprawl is expensive and is only paid for by sustained growth. Which is why the infrastructure always crumbles once the growth stalls for any period of time.
@@HummingbirdCyborg except property taxes will go up Texas doesn't do income taxes and don't know if repair falls under sales tax or not and since the building exists the added parking doesn't add to sprawl or needing more infrastructure. One thing it will do is add to the heat island effect where as some tree planting would help cool things
@@jamesbizs The 10% max raise per year applies to primary residence declared as your "homestead". Does not apply to business and each homeowner can only declare one home as a "homestead".
Just noticed that the previous user of the "store front" was also a mechanic shop that had operated without any parking issues for years. I'll bet that was interesting for the court to hear.
Yup…it use to be an automotive machine shop with many employees. Had virtually no parking the entire time. Been that way since the first time I visited the location when I was 16 years old, I’m 42 now.
The first time Steve covered this, I looked up the location in Google Earth. The only way that piece of property could have 28 parking spaces would be to either build multi-level parking storage racks or buy out at LEAST on neighboring property for the express purpose of knocking down whatever was there and paving it. Well, maybe there could be a way to squeeze 28 vehicles around the shop on that property, if you are willing to have to move all of them to get the first one you parked, and climb out of windows to get out of the ones you park.
@@MonkeyJedi99 You're probably on to something there. If the property next to it is currently owned by the city (or someone with connections to those pushing for this) and is either up for sale, or intended to be sold shortly, that would mean they were trying to strong-arm him to buy that property too.
Had a client who was building a business on a corner lot on a fairly busy road. The city engineer wanted to require him to put in a very large catch basin for rain runoff. Finally had to have a meeting with the engineer and city attorney. The engineer said that it was vital pursuant to his inspection of the property. Pointed out to them that the city's ordinances did not grant the engineer the authority to require it. He said that, in a heavy rain, runoff could flood the roads. I asked, "How? The property is, at minimum, 2 feet below the grade of the adjoining roads." He then said, "It is?" THAT'S how city bureaucracies run. He'd told a bald-faced lie right in front of the city attorney. He never had visited the site. The city attorney just wished us good fortune with the project and we had no requirements.
A lot of times large companies will lobby city politicians to pass laws like this to try to prevent competition from popping up. Walmart is known for doing things like this.
I’ve thought for a long time that we need a new separation. We had separation of church and state. Now we need separation of the state from many areas of the economy. “When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”-P.J. O’Rourke
This is called regulatory capture, a form of corruption where incumbents write laws in their benefit. It's corruption because it's using public power for private gain. National Tire conglomerates can raise the burden of starting a new tire shop in the city by mandating a minimum of 28 parking spots, limiting competition, benefitting incumbents, shutting down small businesses, raising prices for consumers, padding profits for corporate.
Walmart is/was also known for convincing municipalities to use eminent domain to acquire property for their stores. The logic being that increasing the tax base serves the public good. While this might technically be true I don't think that is what eminent domain should be used for. It should be limited to true public projects, schools, roads, etc.
I think they need to investigate whoever said he needs those parking spots because I bet you either they or someone they know stands to make a profit off the construction.
There is an idea, Steve. If they changed Civil Asset Forfeiture laws to have the Cops to pay for the victim's legal fees if they can't prove the money is dirty.
Money isn't a person and therefore considered guilty unless proven innocent, and they don't even check unless they get sued by the "owner" (their airquotes).
well once the supreme court decides that being immune from any action because of their,the police, shitty actions and are directly held responsible, because of their actions , you might see police departments conduct themselves in the manner they should. we hear people talk about being responsible for your own actions........unless you are a cop
It have been my opinion that money (or asset converted to money) seized by CAF should be put toward a fund that can only be used to pay for the legal cost of CAF challenges (of both side) where the "victim" win. It removes the perverse incentive to do CAF AND provides victims with a source of fund for challenges.
There was a furniture store in my town that was required to have a number of parking spots that was completely impossible for him to do, since it had all the parking spots he could have. It turned out that his business was lumped in with grocery stores, which obviously will have more customers at one time than any furniture store will ever have. He eventually closed and someone opened a laundromat there. Their lot is always fuller than it ever was as a furniture store.
The "you need 28 parking spaces" crap is a way to keep "the wrong kind of people" from owning businesses, in particular anyone who isn't obscenely rich already.
@@harrywilliamson7043 I'll respectfully disagree. I believe that using your own property in a way and manner of your own choosing and desire may well be a civil right and a Constitutional cause.
@@ptfd140 but I hate to tell you, that has never been recognized. EVERYONE is restricted in some way on how they can use thier property, there is no universal standard on that issue, either in constitutional law or elsewhere. So no it is not a specific civil rights issue UNLESS the restriction can be shown to be based on some form of discrimination. IE the ACLU will often come to the aid of places of worship facing similar zoning/regulation issues. But generally speaking this type of generally applied business regulation has never been in the ACLU main focus.
@@harrywilliamson7043 Thank you, I stand corrected. Also, after doing a little research, I'll posit that this appears to be a civil liberties issue rather than a civil rights issue. Hence, outside of the ACLU mission. Civil liberties vs Civil rights... there is a difference. This was a fun and interesting one to research. Sometimes a word/phrase does not mean what we think it means.
I remember that video on their link. So ridiculus. Glad to see him get some traction. I donate to them i seldom donate to anything i cant imagine any credible arguements for 28 parking spots.
I don’t want to be “that guy” but I think you mean 28 parking spots for a 1 man operation. Obvious to all of us is that the grocery store or the local Walmart should have more than 28 to avoid street parking.
who in city hall has family or friends in the parking lot paving business is the real question needed to be asked right now we all know its got to be a BS corrupt city council member or mayor or something. this is super obvious, no other reason for this to be a law on the books if there aint someone making bank illegally here.
I was just about to post this exact thing. Who, will make money for this? Always, follow the money. A one person mechanic, can only work on so many cars at a time. Someone, was planning something dirty.
Or who owns/has a family member who owns a Garage in the area? It's just as likely they're trying to "protect" that business as them trying to get more business for a contactor.
When I opened my office in 1986, the fire inspector showed up FIVE TIMES to be sure I had a fire extinguisher, two extinguishers, right type, mounted, re-mounted at 3'. ONE visit should have been enough but he was padding his busy-book.
My former CPA (since retired) was working out of a house (a former residential area now zoned for commercial business) and the city inspector told him he had to have a catch basin for his 8 parking spaces. Evidently the city inspector was bored that day and needed something to justify his position. I'll bet that catch basin never held any water. What a waste!
Is it possible that the city was thinking of taking it via eminent domain for something that actually requires 28 spaces, selling it to a crony, and leaving this guy with just enough to mollify the court?
Having owned a repair shop, I learned this quickly. What do you do with customers who don't authorize repairs and then leave the vehicle sitting at the shop? We had as many as 25 sitting at one time, lucky we had plenty of parking. He should have a relationship with a towing and storage yard to remove vehicles with unpaid bills and refusals to remove vehicles. It supports the tow yard and removes the burden from the mechanic shop, this could be a factor in the cities requirements. Check the state and local laws about mechanic leins, towing, and storage of vehicles.
I think if it is that much of a problem, you would need to have a repair contract clause (probably prominently displayed in the parking lot as well) that vehicles left for more than X days would be towed by (local tow company with impound yard) and all costs for tow and impound to be borne by the vehicle owner. edit: re-read your post, you pretty much said the same thing.
I donated in your name steve because I believe in what you do and what the institute for justice does thank you for making these videos help everyone especially the little guy. Thanks again
28!! Wow! I understand he may have 2 or 3 cars waiting on ordered parts but even if he does hire a helper when would he ever need to hold 28 cars?? I wonder who's first cousin he beat to the draw on buying this garage and now they are angry?
My question is, does the city of Pasadena Texas want him to put these parking places in for his own business, or are they demanding it for the city of Pasadena Texas?
Pasadena is by me. To be fair most Mechanics do build up lotsa cars being worked on and city may fear him parking on street. Texas varies some cities are low regulation and look ugly, some are hi and look posh and Pasadena is that... So maybe don't open Mechanic shop in housing area in the posh city and act surprised they want to make sure it looks neat next to mansions.... This is the benefit of small suburbs, move if you don t like it rather than say all cities must be unregulated?? ... I have no solution to how to regulate, we can't let a busy place jam itself next to a school on undersized lot, ,, Overall 99% of cases the govt probably handles ok, , ,
Does a city council member own a repair shop? Or the mayor’s son in law? I know that happened in my hometown when a major chain restaurant came to look for building sites and the mayor owned the biggest restaurant in town. He made sure the competition couldn’t find an appropriate piece of property.
Have better food or allow for a lot more restaurants! People don't always know exactly what they want after deciding to eat out, but if a particular area has a variety of selections, those people are much more likely to head towards that direction and decide along the way. It's actually economically beneficial to restauranteurs for their market to have a multitude of options. It's also great for route planning on the supply side.
My hometown took a long time to get a fast food chain, and eventually a Walmart. The village and township would never let them open these businesses because it was bad for the local economy. The unspoken part was that the town and village boards were made of of the local restaurant and store owners. While they were correct about it being bad for the local economy, they were doing it to save their own businesses. Conflict of interest? The whole area dried up and blew away like Thanos snapped, except for the fast food restaurants and Walmart. The decline had been going on for decades, so it wasn't just Walmart and BK/McD that killed the town. They weren't wrong about the results, but their motives were in question.
@@MikeLinPA It's certainly a mixed bag. Locals there, it seems, prefer corporate chains, but this is not completely atrocious either. Many chains are actually owned and operated by locals, especially restaurants, and because of the strict standards and lack of equipment model options, the expense and investment capital required for opening a chain restaurant is almost always higher than a local joint. Corporate entities strategically plan ahead to pick the most optimal location possible; whereas a local goes where they already have land or connections. Ideally, if a local knows what they are doing, they will franchise over originality, but sometimes, there are savvy business investors who will partner with someone who has a truly great plan of action with intent to go beyond the initial market. Remember, pretty much every successful chain started as a local joint and grew from that, including McDonalds. I won't personally hate it solely on this basis. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of franchises available, each with their own character and charm.
@@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou Thanks for replying. I am not denying any of that. I'm just saying, the village and town councils tried to prevent those chains from getting into the community. Not to protect the community, but to protect their own business interests. It was moot anyway, since the whole area was slowly dying anyway., and nothing was going to prevent it. They bought themselves a few years, that's all. Even the bars went out of business. (How bad is it when the bars go out of business?) The worst dive bar in town is the only one left, although, they are trying to upscale it from what I've seen. The last time I was home was for a funeral, so my point of view are very sparse snapshots. I got out, and I rarely look back.
My wife had a similar problem with a minimal office expansion. The city demanded double the parking spaces needed. And a retention pond for runoff from the additional paved area
This reminds me of an incident my mother recently had. A partially built house that has been sitting there for almost 40 years. They got permits to start construction over again. They got approval from the township first before getting the loan. As part of the approval with the township they had to give plans and blueprints for approval (which they had). 2 months after the loan was granted and construction was to begin, the township was throwing a fit because it was going to have a mother-in-law size add-on (that was in the original plans). They were going to consider it a duplex and wanted six parking stalls. They went before the council disputed it and won. They argued on the grounds that they had already once approved it so why were they back stepping on a decision they already approved. What residence needs six paved parking stalls in the middle of the country on a 10 acre plot of land? Just the idea of it sounds stupid.
@@linwoodnymph6113 but would he even be able to prove discrimination? I think they'd need a pattern of the official pulling nonsense like this to multiple minorities. But it would bear investigating if other people came forward
But Steve, what if he hires more employees? Then he can add the parking spots at that point. Very good point you got there Mr. Lehto. I know the mechanic I go to has 8 employees, but only has about 15 parking sports and they don't even use all those because most the time, the cars are in the garage getting fixed, not sitting in the parking spots.
@@furyofbongos exactly, it should be 100% up to the business owner how many parking spots he/she has. If he needs or wants more parking spots in the future, he can add them at that point. If he looses business because he doesn't have more parking spots, that's also on him. It's a completely ridiculous law. Makes about as much sense as "you can't live in a camper on your own property".
The other shops in town won't be making as many political donations after this. Thanks to both Steve and the Institute for Justice for helping fix this type of injustice.
Good: you see the real problem here, most don't. We have put ourselves in a position, in America, of having to plead with elected / unelected officials who WE have surrendered our rights to. Then in hopes of justice we turn to a former lawyer, now a judge, and ask him for permission to do or not do something. This non-expert in whatever is in question, makes a decision based on what the Masters have already written into rules/laws. He is himself then just another Master deciding if we can do something. When a free people let lawyers / judges / government parasites get power they like it, and keep it. Then we go around asking them to LET us live our lives, good luck with that, unless you have the money to get your own power. Once rights are delegated to the discretion of another, corruption and money take over.
They have a similar ordinance where I am in SC, but they never specified a mandatory parking space size. There are locations with 20 painted out spaces that would barely hold 5 cars. It's so ridiculously stupid, it's almost quaint.
The issue likely stems from an overly restrictive and broadly written statute. A repair shop may be lumped in with a barber or quickie mart style business. They likely just look at square footage and multiple by X. Far too often I see regulations that were made with good intensions, but end up being misused by overly zealous enforcement.
Which is why I'm wondering about whatever code they're using and how it's meant to be used. I missed a lot of the video due to some air rachets in the background, so I can't recall what the basis of the number of parking spots is based on, but I didnt hear why the judge felt such a rule should apply to this guy. Locally in a neighboring town, the city planner looked at the construction happening in a different town, and wrote an ordinance that land can be rezoned, but may default back to farmland at any time, and no lot can be divided to be less than two and a half acres. The property values are high as a result, and thanks to that, it has remained a sleepy town with a lot of vacation homes for 50 years.
WHY does government have ANY say as to how many parking spaces you need? Another massive overreach. It's also frustrating that it's such a car centric POV
As a Texan, knowing the history of Texas laws and redlining... I doubt this was written with good intentions. It was likely written to keep black people out.
I suspect that some large corporation lobbied the city politicians to implement it. They make it a large number of parking spaces specifically to make it too expensive for small businesses.
@@HesderOleh apparently they aren't requirements. Arbitrarily inflicting hardship to a small business owner by a city council in a small town is one of the most obvious signs of local corruption on record, 2nd only to corrupt speed traps/traffic violation cash grabbing scams. You wasted your money on that guys book, unless you are referring to large scale metropolis parking scams.
Steve, That shirt has the Army Security Agency (ASA) patch. My old outfit from 1969 - 1973. In all these years I have only run into one other individual who was in the ASA. Most of us ended up at NSA in Ft. Meade, MD at one time or another. Thanks for a blast from the past.
My first professional job as a city planner was with an organization housed in a converted county jail. They understood just how dangerous planners were.
Thanks Steve , I always find something educational or something entertaining , or both in every video you produce . I have an incurable addiction to cars 🚗 but I make the best of it . It gets worse in Spring until the winter sets in ! 🌞
Does that mean when I, a single man, rent an apartment in Pasadena I can tell the landlord the law says I have to have 28 parking spaces? Gotta say to Ben that that is the best parallel parking I have ever seen!
I used to own a business in Pasadena Texas and like almost everywhere they have stupid laws like this and how many trees you must plant and what kind. Also those stupid retention ponds that just waste valuable land. Local, state and federal agencies make it very difficult to run a business. If you are fortunate enough to make a profit they want it also.
retention ponds in itself are fine, but I suspect the law/rules aren't well made. The law/rule should be formulated in such a way to reach a desired outcome. f.e. the law/rule should state that in case of rain at ...mm/24h, no more than ... liters should flow on the surface or in the sewage. (with more cases for 48 hours etc, making a table). Then the law could propose some solutions, but it shouldn't exclude other solutions that reach the same goal. A law that says that you need to have a retention pond is a bad law that hinders innovation, since other options might be better. (rainwater tank, seperate sewage/rainwater, overflow area, ...)
The demand for reputable mechanics are greater than ever as consumers want to keep their wheels for as long as possible, because just buying a new one is no longer an economical option.
The work that IJ does is so important. We really need organizations like them to defend the common citizen and push back against government over reach. I'm not rich by any means but I feel like what they do is important enough for me to give monthly because there's not a whole lot else I can do to help out fellow Americans. I really hope IJ can get stuff like qualified immunity or civil asset forfeiture before the Supreme Court or even get another shot at imminent domain abuse.
Thank you for editing in a picture Steve! I've been hoping for a long time that you'd add graphics or photos when its relevamt to the story. Would have been excellent to see an aerial photo of his building, lot, and surrounding area.
A Garage should need 1 parking space per Employee and 1 parking space per Service Bay with maybe 1 or 2 extra spaces as spares... a 1 or 2 bay Garage should NEVER need 28 parking spaces...
Two great channels about urban development and transport that cover parking minimums : Strong Towns and Not Just Bikes ! Good viewing and thought provoking.
I've worked on facilities for the elderly all over the country.. depending on where you are the city, county and State can force you to spend money on capital improvements.. sometimes it goes by the value of the project, sometimes it goes by how much of the building you're remodeling. Did a job in Coeur d'Alene Idaho, once the budget went over $70,000 we had to add sidewalks around a dead end cul-de-sac and widen driveways and change the pitch of the concrete inset driveway. No big deal right? Except for all the City utilities ran underneath the driveway and the new to us sidewalk. My concrete contractor cut 100 pair phone line 🤣 pretty interesting the way they put that back together underground ✌️
I remember another Austin are issue - a large international company was in the process of building a Research (software) station . There were to be maybe 25 R&D and 10 staff of various. So the plan was to build a parking lot for 75 cars - as the space could hold that nicely. Site visit - Oh No - that will be just short as you need xx square feet of grass and trees for every parking space. So a second parking place closer to the office area was propose - doubling again - and with the grass and trees at all spaces - ok. Nice, NOT. The 250 Acre site was all trees and grass driving in and on all sides. Such is the life of power people. Thank you for your services.
I would like to understand how the city came up with that number and what the process is for relief, such as variance or special use permit. The language in the Texas Constitution is the key to this case.
people don't realize how silly some of the city and county regulations are until they go into business for them selves and run into all this type stuff
Part of the issue here must also be the composition of said parking spaces. This is in south Texas, close to Houston..surely a load or two of gravel would suffice. There's no frost heave and the last thing they need is water runoff after a storm.
I watched a former boss of mine get screwed over by the city of Monterey. They drug their feet on all of the approvals needed to open. He and his wife had to wait 6 months while paying the lease for all of the approvals before they could open. After being open for 3 years, a new inspector came around and found a problem...the walk in cooler wasn't built on a concrete pad. That cooler construction was approved 10 years in a row by the previous inspector. The city then wanted to fine him for it for a total of $165k...for their mistake. Twas bullshit. They drove a minority owned business out of town and lost some fine BBQ in the process.
![[UNCUT] The Loyal Pin ปิ่นภักดิ์ EP.15 (3/4)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IVwR87OH0_A/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for your support, Steve!
Thank you for what you do. Very informative and the help you give people is heroic.
love ijj and their stories
I'm a contributor to IfJ. Great organization!!
Thank you for everything you do in the name of justice. God bless your whole team.
Thanks for your videos!
If they are like the municipality I dealt with when I was chief engineer of an airport hotel, they won't get even, they will get ahead. The municipality was building new parking for airport expansion that they would financially benefit from and were not using the water trucks to water down the dirt to keep the dust down from the construction. This was a state law. I made the mistake of calling the municipality and complaining that the contractor wasn't following state law. This was causing our guests problems because the swimming pool was not usable because all the dust has settled in it and I personally had to wash some very expensive cars that were being covered with dust just from an overnight stay. Next thing I know the health department, the department that inspected our pool, and multiple other municipal agencies were in our building making surprise inspections. That taught me a lesson I'll never forget. They nitpicked us to death.
@@HAL69000 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
The Institute For Justice is my favorite nonprofit. I regularly donate to them. They're taking on the Government on so many fronts. They're simply great.
It could also be a tactic for property taxes too… increase the value of the land by 40k means they get the added taxes from that 40k
Ironically, having more sprawling, less compact businesses spread over larger areas without more revenue is going to lead to far less tax revenue compared to the cost of the infrastructure.
Sprawl is expensive and is only paid for by sustained growth. Which is why the infrastructure always crumbles once the growth stalls for any period of time.
@@HummingbirdCyborg except property taxes will go up Texas doesn't do income taxes and don't know if repair falls under sales tax or not and since the building exists the added parking doesn't add to sprawl or needing more infrastructure. One thing it will do is add to the heat island effect where as some tree planting would help cool things
No. They don’t. You can only raise property taxes by 10% MAX per year.
@@jeffbybee5207 sales tax is for services too. Service is still a sale
@@jamesbizs The 10% max raise per year applies to primary residence declared as your "homestead". Does not apply to business and each homeowner can only declare one home as a "homestead".
Just noticed that the previous user of the "store front" was also a mechanic shop that had operated without any parking issues for years. I'll bet that was interesting for the court to hear.
ikr wtf
Yup…it use to be an automotive machine shop with many employees. Had virtually no parking the entire time. Been that way since the first time I visited the location when I was 16 years old, I’m 42 now.
The first time Steve covered this, I looked up the location in Google Earth.
The only way that piece of property could have 28 parking spaces would be to either build multi-level parking storage racks or buy out at LEAST on neighboring property for the express purpose of knocking down whatever was there and paving it.
Well, maybe there could be a way to squeeze 28 vehicles around the shop on that property, if you are willing to have to move all of them to get the first one you parked, and climb out of windows to get out of the ones you park.
@@MonkeyJedi99 You're probably on to something there.
If the property next to it is currently owned by the city (or someone with connections to those pushing for this) and is either up for sale, or intended to be sold shortly, that would mean they were trying to strong-arm him to buy that property too.
Had a client who was building a business on a corner lot on a fairly busy road. The city engineer wanted to require him to put in a very large catch basin for rain runoff. Finally had to have a meeting with the engineer and city attorney. The engineer said that it was vital pursuant to his inspection of the property. Pointed out to them that the city's ordinances did not grant the engineer the authority to require it. He said that, in a heavy rain, runoff could flood the roads. I asked, "How? The property is, at minimum, 2 feet below the grade of the adjoining roads." He then said, "It is?" THAT'S how city bureaucracies run. He'd told a bald-faced lie right in front of the city attorney. He never had visited the site. The city attorney just wished us good fortune with the project and we had no requirements.
Working in the field, that sounds about right
Good story with a happy ending!
Not surprised. Municipal engineers rarely leave their offices.
Tyranny must be resisted by any means!
I just donated to Institute for Justice. Keep up the good news, Steve! Thanks
A lot of times large companies will lobby city politicians to pass laws like this to try to prevent competition from popping up. Walmart is known for doing things like this.
I’ve thought for a long time that we need a new separation. We had separation of church and state. Now we need separation of the state from many areas of the economy. “When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”-P.J. O’Rourke
This is called regulatory capture, a form of corruption where incumbents write laws in their benefit. It's corruption because it's using public power for private gain.
National Tire conglomerates can raise the burden of starting a new tire shop in the city by mandating a minimum of 28 parking spots, limiting competition, benefitting incumbents, shutting down small businesses, raising prices for consumers, padding profits for corporate.
Walmart is/was also known for convincing municipalities to use eminent domain to acquire property for their stores. The logic being that increasing the tax base serves the public good. While this might technically be true I don't think that is what eminent domain should be used for. It should be limited to true public projects, schools, roads, etc.
Exactly. This has been going on as long as government has existed.
I think they need to investigate whoever said he needs those parking spots because I bet you either they or someone they know stands to make a profit off the construction.
There is an idea, Steve. If they changed Civil Asset Forfeiture laws to have the Cops to pay for the victim's legal fees if they can't prove the money is dirty.
Money isn't a person and therefore considered guilty unless proven innocent, and they don't even check unless they get sued by the "owner" (their airquotes).
well once the supreme court decides that being immune from any action because of their,the police, shitty actions and are directly held responsible, because of their actions , you might see police departments conduct themselves in the manner they should. we hear people talk about being responsible for your own actions........unless you are a cop
Civil Asset Forfeiture should always be tied to a criminal conviction.
It have been my opinion that money (or asset converted to money) seized by CAF should be put toward a fund that can only be used to pay for the legal cost of CAF challenges (of both side) where the "victim" win.
It removes the perverse incentive to do CAF AND provides victims with a source of fund for challenges.
@@gunnargu So we are free to get our money back, at it was taken from a person who is innocent until proven guilty.
There was a furniture store in my town that was required to have a number of parking spots that was completely impossible for him to do, since it had all the parking spots he could have. It turned out that his business was lumped in with grocery stores, which obviously will have more customers at one time than any furniture store will ever have. He eventually closed and someone opened a laundromat there. Their lot is always fuller than it ever was as a furniture store.
The "you need 28 parking spaces" crap is a way to keep "the wrong kind of people" from owning businesses, in particular anyone who isn't obscenely rich already.
Nope, you should read books / watch videos by Professor Donald Shoup. It is amazing how bad parking requirements are around the country.
I've been following this group for a while. They do great work.
It used to be the ACLU could be relied on to deal with stuff like this but they’ve gone completely off the reservation.
@@NYCZ31 this isn't really a civil rights issue.
@@harrywilliamson7043 I'll respectfully disagree. I believe that using your own property in a way and manner of your own choosing and desire may well be a civil right and a Constitutional cause.
@@ptfd140 but I hate to tell you, that has never been recognized. EVERYONE is restricted in some way on how they can use thier property, there is no universal standard on that issue, either in constitutional law or elsewhere. So no it is not a specific civil rights issue UNLESS the restriction can be shown to be based on some form of discrimination. IE the ACLU will often come to the aid of places of worship facing similar zoning/regulation issues. But generally speaking this type of generally applied business regulation has never been in the ACLU main focus.
@@harrywilliamson7043 Thank you, I stand corrected. Also, after doing a little research, I'll posit that this appears to be a civil liberties issue rather than a civil rights issue. Hence, outside of the ACLU mission.
Civil liberties vs Civil rights... there is a difference. This was a fun and interesting one to research. Sometimes a word/phrase does not mean what we think it means.
I remember that video on their link. So ridiculus. Glad to see him get some traction. I donate to them i seldom donate to anything i cant imagine any credible arguements for 28 parking spots.
@@ygrittesnow1701 Does a guy by the name of Jon Snow know anything?
Obviously the city employees want to protect some existing businesses that are paying them off, this is Pasadena, TX after all.
I don’t want to be “that guy” but I think you mean 28 parking spots for a 1 man operation. Obvious to all of us is that the grocery store or the local Walmart should have more than 28 to avoid street parking.
Got to be careful donating these days. You can you livelihood ruined
I've been following IJ for many years. They're awesome.
There's not a whole lot of places that I will support when I see online requests, but this is truly one of the exceptions. Kudos to the IJ team!
I remember hearing about the initial story, I'm glad that shop is getting the help they deserve to get the government overreach slapped down.
who in city hall has family or friends in the parking lot paving business is the real question needed to be asked right now
we all know its got to be a BS corrupt city council member or mayor or something. this is super obvious, no other reason for this to be a law on the books if there aint someone making bank illegally here.
Perhaps they use the number of parking spaces as a factor in determining tax rates.
I was just about to post this exact thing. Who, will make money for this? Always, follow the money. A one person mechanic, can only work on so many cars at a time. Someone, was planning something dirty.
Or who owns/has a family member who owns a Garage in the area? It's just as likely they're trying to "protect" that business as them trying to get more business for a contactor.
Thanks for covering this
Ben - Out in the open. Red 71 and Turbine car. Top shelf, Steve's left.
When I opened my office in 1986, the fire inspector showed up FIVE TIMES to be sure I had a fire extinguisher, two extinguishers, right type, mounted, re-mounted at 3'.
ONE visit should have been enough but he was padding his busy-book.
My former CPA (since retired) was working out of a house (a former residential area now zoned for commercial business) and the city inspector told him he had to have a catch basin for his 8 parking spaces. Evidently the city inspector was bored that day and needed something to justify his position. I'll bet that catch basin never held any water. What a waste!
Bureaucracy is like a cancer.
@@mikepalmer1971 Like?
@@danieljones317 It takes hold and grows and and grows.
@@mikepalmer1971 I think he meant you can remove the "like" - "Bureaucracy is a cancer."
@@MH3GL oh yeah? Well im a libra
Usually someone at city hall has a family member who just so happens to have a construction business.
Or a freind wants that spot for their business
Is it possible that the city was thinking of taking it via eminent domain for something that actually requires 28 spaces, selling it to a crony, and leaving this guy with just enough to mollify the court?
I doubt it as thanks to Kelo eminent domain is a lot harder to do these days.
it's not in the center of town so no, they are just being dumb.
I want to thank you Steve for bringing all that you do to our awareness. Thanks a whole bunch!
Having owned a repair shop, I learned this quickly. What do you do with customers who don't authorize repairs and then leave the vehicle sitting at the shop? We had as many as 25 sitting at one time, lucky we had plenty of parking. He should have a relationship with a towing and storage yard to remove vehicles with unpaid bills and refusals to remove vehicles. It supports the tow yard and removes the burden from the mechanic shop, this could be a factor in the cities requirements. Check the state and local laws about mechanic leins, towing, and storage of vehicles.
I think if it is that much of a problem, you would need to have a repair contract clause (probably prominently displayed in the parking lot as well) that vehicles left for more than X days would be towed by (local tow company with impound yard) and all costs for tow and impound to be borne by the vehicle owner.
edit: re-read your post, you pretty much said the same thing.
I donated in your name steve because I believe in what you do and what the institute for justice does thank you for making these videos help everyone especially the little guy. Thanks again
28!! Wow! I understand he may have 2 or 3 cars waiting on ordered parts but even if he does hire a helper when would he ever need to hold 28 cars?? I wonder who's first cousin he beat to the draw on buying this garage and now they are angry?
Even at my local ford dealership they dont have that many spots for customers
This group does such good work
My question is, does the city of Pasadena Texas want him to put these parking places in for his own business, or are they demanding it for the city of Pasadena Texas?
It's basically on a largely residential street with a large grass lot next door. I assume the city doesn't want to see cars parked in that grass.
They likely wrote a regulation so your customers don't end up filling up someone else's parking lot.
@@eddarby469 You’re half right. They get to tax the acreage.
Pasadena is by me. To be fair most Mechanics do build up lotsa cars being worked on and city may fear him parking on street. Texas varies some cities are low regulation and look ugly, some are hi and look posh and Pasadena is that... So maybe don't open Mechanic shop in housing area in the posh city and act surprised they want to make sure it looks neat next to mansions.... This is the benefit of small suburbs, move if you don t like it rather than say all cities must be unregulated?? ... I have no solution to how to regulate, we can't let a busy place jam itself next to a school on undersized lot, ,, Overall 99% of cases the govt probably handles ok, , ,
Does a city council member own a repair shop? Or the mayor’s son in law? I know that happened in my hometown when a major chain restaurant came to look for building sites and the mayor owned the biggest restaurant in town. He made sure the competition couldn’t find an appropriate piece of property.
Have better food or allow for a lot more restaurants!
People don't always know exactly what they want after deciding to eat out, but if a particular area has a variety of selections, those people are much more likely to head towards that direction and decide along the way. It's actually economically beneficial to restauranteurs for their market to have a multitude of options. It's also great for route planning on the supply side.
That, or they're connected to company(s) involved in building parking spaces and drumming up business.
My hometown took a long time to get a fast food chain, and eventually a Walmart. The village and township would never let them open these businesses because it was bad for the local economy. The unspoken part was that the town and village boards were made of of the local restaurant and store owners. While they were correct about it being bad for the local economy, they were doing it to save their own businesses. Conflict of interest?
The whole area dried up and blew away like Thanos snapped, except for the fast food restaurants and Walmart. The decline had been going on for decades, so it wasn't just Walmart and BK/McD that killed the town. They weren't wrong about the results, but their motives were in question.
@@MikeLinPA
It's certainly a mixed bag. Locals there, it seems, prefer corporate chains, but this is not completely atrocious either. Many chains are actually owned and operated by locals, especially restaurants, and because of the strict standards and lack of equipment model options, the expense and investment capital required for opening a chain restaurant is almost always higher than a local joint. Corporate entities strategically plan ahead to pick the most optimal location possible; whereas a local goes where they already have land or connections. Ideally, if a local knows what they are doing, they will franchise over originality, but sometimes, there are savvy business investors who will partner with someone who has a truly great plan of action with intent to go beyond the initial market.
Remember, pretty much every successful chain started as a local joint and grew from that, including McDonalds. I won't personally hate it solely on this basis. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of franchises available, each with their own character and charm.
@@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou Thanks for replying. I am not denying any of that. I'm just saying, the village and town councils tried to prevent those chains from getting into the community. Not to protect the community, but to protect their own business interests. It was moot anyway, since the whole area was slowly dying anyway., and nothing was going to prevent it. They bought themselves a few years, that's all.
Even the bars went out of business. (How bad is it when the bars go out of business?) The worst dive bar in town is the only one left, although, they are trying to upscale it from what I've seen. The last time I was home was for a funeral, so my point of view are very sparse snapshots. I got out, and I rarely look back.
My wife had a similar problem with a minimal office expansion. The city demanded double the parking spaces needed. And a retention pond for runoff from the additional paved area
This reminds me of an incident my mother recently had. A partially built house that has been sitting there for almost 40 years. They got permits to start construction over again. They got approval from the township first before getting the loan. As part of the approval with the township they had to give plans and blueprints for approval (which they had). 2 months after the loan was granted and construction was to begin, the township was throwing a fit because it was going to have a mother-in-law size add-on (that was in the original plans). They were going to consider it a duplex and wanted six parking stalls. They went before the council disputed it and won. They argued on the grounds that they had already once approved it so why were they back stepping on a decision they already approved. What residence needs six paved parking stalls in the middle of the country on a 10 acre plot of land? Just the idea of it sounds stupid.
Thank you "Institute for Justice", for helping the people that are being wronged by Ego Maniacs and Unjust laws...💯👍
Sounds to me like some obnoxious person was deliberately keeping him from opening the shop by 'requiring him to do this'
Yeah, & I'd bet said obnoxious TX person had a problem with Mr. Sepulveda's name & skin tone.
@@linwoodnymph6113 but would he even be able to prove discrimination? I think they'd need a pattern of the official pulling nonsense like this to multiple minorities. But it would bear investigating if other people came forward
Nope, you should read books / watch videos by Professor Donald Shoup. It is amazing how bad parking requirements are around the country.
But Steve, what if he hires more employees?
Then he can add the parking spots at that point. Very good point you got there Mr. Lehto. I know the mechanic I go to has 8 employees, but only has about 15 parking sports and they don't even use all those because most the time, the cars are in the garage getting fixed, not sitting in the parking spots.
Why should he have to?
He wants to be a one-man shop. Adding even one employee adds a huge amount of complexity to his business.
What if someone has more children. Do they need a 23 bedroom house in case they have more children in the future.
@@furyofbongos exactly, it should be 100% up to the business owner how many parking spots he/she has. If he needs or wants more parking spots in the future, he can add them at that point. If he looses business because he doesn't have more parking spots, that's also on him. It's a completely ridiculous law. Makes about as much sense as "you can't live in a camper on your own property".
That’s awesome! I love the IOJ, I watch their vids all the time. Glad to see that they are making strides.
Great work by the institute and by Mr. Lehto,
👏 Bravo.
I love the work Institute for Justice does.
Thanks for this video!....nice to see the “little” guy stand up and win!
It's not about him having enough parking spaces, it's about increasing the value of the property for tax revenue.
The other shops in town won't be making as many political donations after this. Thanks to both Steve and the Institute for Justice for helping fix this type of injustice.
Agree with Steve, IJ is a fantastic organization doing great work.
Begging the master to give you more freedom and liberty only means that the master is still the master. You don't need permission to exercise a right!
Good: you see the real problem here, most don't. We have put ourselves in a position, in America, of having to plead with elected / unelected officials who WE have surrendered our rights to. Then in hopes of justice we turn to a former lawyer, now a judge, and ask him for permission to do or not do something. This non-expert in whatever is in question, makes a decision based on what the Masters have already written into rules/laws. He is himself then just another Master deciding if we can do something. When a free people let lawyers / judges / government parasites get power they like it, and keep it. Then we go around asking them to LET us live our lives, good luck with that, unless you have the money to get your own power. Once rights are delegated to the discretion of another, corruption and money take over.
@@jamescrabb8766 at some point we will need to take our country back
I served in the Army Security Agency from 1969 to 1975. Seeing our insignia on Steve's t-shirt today made me feel good.
They have a similar ordinance where I am in SC, but they never specified a mandatory parking space size. There are locations with 20 painted out spaces that would barely hold 5 cars. It's so ridiculously stupid, it's almost quaint.
The issue likely stems from an overly restrictive and broadly written statute. A repair shop may be lumped in with a barber or quickie mart style business. They likely just look at square footage and multiple by X. Far too often I see regulations that were made with good intensions, but end up being misused by overly zealous enforcement.
Why is the government dictating how many customers you serve at a time? If there's not enough parking oh well.
Which is why I'm wondering about whatever code they're using and how it's meant to be used. I missed a lot of the video due to some air rachets in the background, so I can't recall what the basis of the number of parking spots is based on, but I didnt hear why the judge felt such a rule should apply to this guy.
Locally in a neighboring town, the city planner looked at the construction happening in a different town, and wrote an ordinance that land can be rezoned, but may default back to farmland at any time, and no lot can be divided to be less than two and a half acres. The property values are high as a result, and thanks to that, it has remained a sleepy town with a lot of vacation homes for 50 years.
WHY does government have ANY say as to how many parking spaces you need? Another massive overreach. It's also frustrating that it's such a car centric POV
As a Texan, knowing the history of Texas laws and redlining... I doubt this was written with good intentions. It was likely written to keep black people out.
I suspect that some large corporation lobbied the city politicians to implement it. They make it a large number of parking spaces specifically to make it too expensive for small businesses.
IFL IfJ! Thanks for helping to promote their good work, Steve!
God Bless the Righteous Attorneys
I imagine somebody on that city council has a relative or croney in the area attempting to run a monopoly on local auto repair.
100% guaranteed. This ordinance is fascism on display
Or a friend/relative who builds parking lots and needs work.
Nope, you should read books / watch videos by Professor Donald Shoup. It is amazing how bad parking requirements are around the country.
@@HesderOleh apparently they aren't requirements. Arbitrarily inflicting hardship to a small business owner by a city council in a small town is one of the most obvious signs of local corruption on record, 2nd only to corrupt speed traps/traffic violation cash grabbing scams. You wasted your money on that guys book, unless you are referring to large scale metropolis parking scams.
@@HesderOleh but I am interested in the info you speak of.
Steve, That shirt has the Army Security Agency (ASA) patch. My old outfit from 1969 - 1973. In all these years I have only run into one other individual who was in the ASA. Most of us ended up at NSA in Ft. Meade, MD at one time or another. Thanks for a blast from the past.
My first professional job as a city planner was with an organization housed in a converted county jail. They understood just how dangerous planners were.
Thanks Steve , I always find something educational or something entertaining , or both in every video you produce . I have an incurable addiction to cars 🚗 but I make the best of it . It gets worse in Spring until the winter sets in ! 🌞
Steve I want to thank you for all of your videos I enjoy watching them
CRL: Unless another hermit wants the same cave on the mountain.
Does that mean when I, a single man, rent an apartment in Pasadena I can tell the landlord the law says I have to have 28 parking spaces? Gotta say to Ben that that is the best parallel parking I have ever seen!
Great video. Glad the mechanic is going to win against a corrupt city government.
Love IJ
I used to own a business in Pasadena Texas and like almost everywhere they have stupid laws like this and how many trees you must plant and what kind. Also those stupid retention ponds that just waste valuable land. Local, state and federal agencies make it very difficult to run a business. If you are fortunate enough to make a profit they want it also.
retention ponds in itself are fine, but I suspect the law/rules aren't well made.
The law/rule should be formulated in such a way to reach a desired outcome.
f.e. the law/rule should state that in case of rain at ...mm/24h, no more than ... liters should flow on the surface or in the sewage. (with more cases for 48 hours etc, making a table). Then the law could propose some solutions, but it shouldn't exclude other solutions that reach the same goal.
A law that says that you need to have a retention pond is a bad law that hinders innovation, since other options might be better. (rainwater tank, seperate sewage/rainwater, overflow area, ...)
I support the Institute for Justice. Great people. Let's all help.
The demand for reputable mechanics are greater than ever as consumers want to keep their wheels for as long as possible, because just buying a new one is no longer an economical option.
The work that IJ does is so important. We really need organizations like them to defend the common citizen and push back against government over reach.
I'm not rich by any means but I feel like what they do is important enough for me to give monthly because there's not a whole lot else I can do to help out fellow Americans. I really hope IJ can get stuff like qualified immunity or civil asset forfeiture before the Supreme Court or even get another shot at imminent domain abuse.
I do the same, and am in the same boat as you.
Wow! That is lot of parking spaces for a one man operation. Glad he can open his shop for now.
Just donated. What a great cause!
I remember watching their video on this case. Glad they have had a positive response.
Oh Pasadena Tx with the lovely stench of all the oil refineries I grew up not to far from there and always knew when I was close just by the smell
Guess it is my turn to thank the Institute for Justice
Institute for justice does alot to fight civil asset forfeiture and government overreach.
They also have a you tube channel.
IJ does some amazing work!
Steve, I just donated to IFJ because of your videos! Keep up the great work
Just donated to The Institute for Justice; Upon seeing this video, I decided to stop procrastinating. Thanks for the link Steve!
Congratulations!!!
Thank you for editing in a picture Steve! I've been hoping for a long time that you'd add graphics or photos when its relevamt to the story. Would have been excellent to see an aerial photo of his building, lot, and surrounding area.
A Garage should need 1 parking space per Employee and 1 parking space per Service Bay with maybe 1 or 2 extra spaces as spares...
a 1 or 2 bay Garage should NEVER need 28 parking spaces...
Number of bays wasn't mentioned, he does TH-cam so seems likely it could be 3, 4 or 5 based on other TH-camrs I've seen.
Two great channels about urban development and transport that cover parking minimums : Strong Towns and Not Just Bikes ! Good viewing and thought provoking.
Bravo!
I've worked on facilities for the elderly all over the country.. depending on where you are the city, county and State can force you to spend money on capital improvements.. sometimes it goes by the value of the project, sometimes it goes by how much of the building you're remodeling. Did a job in Coeur d'Alene Idaho, once the budget went over $70,000 we had to add sidewalks around a dead end cul-de-sac and widen driveways and change the pitch of the concrete inset driveway. No big deal right? Except for all the City utilities ran underneath the driveway and the new to us sidewalk. My concrete contractor cut 100 pair phone line 🤣 pretty interesting the way they put that back together underground ✌️
I'm reminded of Marvin Heemyer...
I remember another Austin are issue - a large international company was in the process of building a Research (software) station . There were to be maybe 25 R&D and 10 staff of various. So the plan was to build a parking lot for 75 cars - as the space could hold that nicely. Site visit - Oh No - that will be just short as you need xx square feet of grass and trees for every parking space. So a second parking place closer to the office area was propose - doubling again - and with the grass and trees at all spaces - ok. Nice, NOT. The 250 Acre site was all trees and grass driving in and on all sides. Such is the life of power people. Thank you for your services.
Interesting , Thank You .
👏👏 claps for the hero’s at IJ
Just gave them a donation. Great work. I like to see this kind of win. We to often have an uphill battle.
Thank you, IJ. You may have just prevented the next killdozer.
One man figured out a solution to these issues. RIP Marvin Heemeyer.
I would like to understand how the city came up with that number and what the process is for relief, such as variance or special use permit.
The language in the Texas Constitution is the key to this case.
I’m local for that guy, I found his channel and gave him a sub. Thank you for the video!
people don't realize how silly some of the city and county regulations are until they go into business for them selves and run into all this type stuff
What a great time to be on lunch.
Usually, I can't find the Benjamin, but this time I noticed it behind #71 when I wasn't even looking for it.
We have something similar going on in my neighborhood here in NY.
Part of the issue here must also be the composition of said parking spaces. This is in south Texas, close to Houston..surely a load or two of gravel would suffice. There's no frost heave and the last thing they need is water runoff after a storm.
They have a well defined regulation as to what a parking lot can consist of. Gravel is not going to be permitted.
IJ is amazing, I try to make a few donations a year and they're on my list.
i never donated I'm glad for the work you do so i donated $50 on your behalf Steve love your videos
IJ is an honorable organization that stands up for the little guy.
Institute forJustice has one of the best you tube channels out there!!
My absolute favorite charity. They are what the ACLU should be.
Sending love ❤️ in humanity from Oregon to the very wise Canadian robot 🤖 lady.🤔❤️🇺🇸🤖🇨🇦
Completely ridiculous!
Government overreach!
I watched a former boss of mine get screwed over by the city of Monterey. They drug their feet on all of the approvals needed to open. He and his wife had to wait 6 months while paying the lease for all of the approvals before they could open. After being open for 3 years, a new inspector came around and found a problem...the walk in cooler wasn't built on a concrete pad. That cooler construction was approved 10 years in a row by the previous inspector. The city then wanted to fine him for it for a total of $165k...for their mistake. Twas bullshit. They drove a minority owned business out of town and lost some fine BBQ in the process.
great to hear oz got one win. i hope it keeps going his way.