December 9, 2021

Azael Sepulveda has always been a car guy. In 2013, he turned that passion into a career and opened Oz Mechanics, a small auto shop in Pasadena.

He has a popular YouTube channel where more than 22 million viewers have watched him explain how to perform car repairs. He also has successfully run his own repair shop, Oz Mechanics, for 9 years with stellar reviews. Recently, Azael decided he wanted to expand his business by moving out of his leased space and buying his own shop. Azael’s dreams seemed to be coming true when he bought a storefront in his hometown of Pasadena, Texas, in the summer of 2021. But instead of welcoming his investment in his community, the city of Pasadena forbade Azael from opening. The reason? The City decided that he had to provide 28 parking spaces—a nearly sixfold increase from the five existing spaces at the storefront—just to open his business.

Azael cannot afford to comply with this unreasonable demand, which is why he partnered with the Institute for Justice to sue the city of Pasadena.

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