An auto body shop owner in west Houston, Texas, is struggling with an overabundance of abandoned cars littering the roadways around his business, ABC 13 reports.
Edward Morales has owned Little Shop of Motors, located on Alberene Drive, for over two decades. He has reached out to multiple city agencies asking for help with removing abandoned cars that crowd the entire Westwood neighborhood.
Throughout the entire block, cars that have been smashed and stripped for parts are left all throughout the roads and sidewalks. Many of them don’t have license plates and are leaking fluids out onto the road.
“There is a lot of illegal activity in regards to stripping cars, stolen cars,” said Morales. “There was one around the corner the other day. It was just the shell of a car. I hadn't seen that in a long time.”
Morales has struggled to receive any sort of assistance from the city of Houston, and believes that this problem would have been promptly addressed if it were to happen in other parts of town.
When ABC 13 contacted the Houston Police Department about the issue, they responded that if it isn’t illegal dumping, it doesn’t fall under their jurisdiction. Park Houston said that if the vehicles aren’t parked illegally, it isn’t their responsibility to do anything, regardless of the fact that Morales has recounted cars blocking off sidewalks.
This problem has yet to improve, and until it does, Morales worries that streets will become so overcrowded that it will cause hit-and-runs. In addition, his own business is beginning to suffer because of the city’s inaction. Many of his customers are reluctant to leave their vehicles there after seeing the state of the neighborhood.
“It's a crime issue, and it's an EPA issue and an EPA issue for the environment,” said Morales. “The things they are doing now can't be good, and the water treatment plant is not that far away from here.”
