Dallas (WBAP/KLIF News) – The City of Dallas is filing suit against one of the last remaining auto repair businesses on Ross Avenue. The city wants Hinga Automotive gone so the property can be developed, but attorney Ari Bargill with the Institute for Justice says that’s not going to happen.
“Hinga’s Automotive is going to stay where it is,” said Bargill. “Condos aren’t going to pop up overnight just because they’re fining him. So all they’re doing is hurting a small business owner.”
Hinga Mbogo has been in business there since 1986. He could be hit with $1,000 a day in fines. Bargill says they’ll fight it in court.
Meanwhile, District 14 City Councilman Philip Kingston says he doesn’t want to run Mbogo out of business, but his constituents want the shop gone.
“So the neighbors feel like he’s broken his word,” said Kingston. “I don’t see a way for him to argue otherwise. He definitely made a promise he did not keep.”
The issue goes back to the rezoning of the neighborhood in the 90s, when car lots and garages were zoned out. Mbogo has gotten two extensions on the deadline to move the shop, says Kingston, but the second has run out, and the city wants the garaged closed.