Originally posted on anti-aggressionleague.com on March 1, 2017
Source: Institute for Justice
‘Five years ago Marshall began washing cars outside the Hibachi Grill. Soon enough, he was asked by Memphis Police if he had permission to work there. He responded with signed letter from the restaurant granting him permission to operate, which he showed to FOX13. Next, Marshall was informed that he needed a business license, so he maneuvered through the County bureaucracy and obtained one. A couple of months later, code enforcement again visited his business, this time saying that he needed a draining system to prevent the waste water from entering the Memphis sewers. “I bought this machine that cost a little over $15,000 to collect all the water. 100 percent of the water and everything we use is earth friendly,” Marshall said. As he continued to bring his business into compliance with the County’s demands, Marshall was issued court orders twice to cease operating and accumulated nearly a dozen citations, just for washing cars in a parking lot.
After all this, a recent statement issued by Code Enforcement Administrator Allen Medlock says that Marshall now needs to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy and a Special Use Permit which would stipulate what is needed to operate a car wash. That statement also claimed that Marshall could be taken into custody if he does not obtain them.’
- The cost of complying with city regulations just to wash cars was the following:
Had Memphis Police forced him to comply with all of these regulations at once, he would not have even been able to afford to start his business.