More than 65 concerned Detroit gas station owners attended the meeting.

DEARBORN — Detroit gas station owner Phid Onwuzurike is still working on clearing the 14 tickets he received from Detroit police officers last August concerning licensing issues.  

Onwuzurike said officers came into his station one day and issued six tickets for not having a business license with the city of Detroit, although at the time he had one with the state. His employees received two additional tickets, making a total of eight. Only a week later Onwuzurike received six more tickets for the same offenses at his home. 

He still wants to know why he received tickets for the same offenses more than once in such a short time period. 

Onwuzurike discussed his frustration about the issue Wednesday evening during a meeting with Arab American gas station owners at the DoubleTree Hotel in Detroit regarding the neighborhood watch program called Project Lighthouse, neighborhood policing and licensing. 

Detroit Police Chief James Craig was expected to attend the meeting, but canceled because of weather conditions. 

Shaker Aoun, chairman of the Tri-County Business Committee, the group responsible for organizing the event, expressed frustration over James’ absence. 

“Do you know how hard it is to bring all these businesses together?” Aoun asked. “It is not that simple. When you ask us to meet and you don’t show up because of the weather, this is insulting to us…Next time they are calling for a meeting, I might not do it. Then you are going to have an issue; I’m going to have an issue.”

More than 65 concerned gas station owners attended the meeting. 

Onwuzurike said a warrant for his arrest was issued because of the tickets. 

“When you go to court they take all those tickets and include them in different courts making it difficult to defend yourself,” he said. 

Gas station owners discussed their concerns with Detroit Police Commander Todd Bettison. Many business owners said they have little hope the event will help solve the issues they have because similar meetings regarding the same problems were held in the past with officials from the Detroit Police Department.

“You said you know some officers who give tickets, we know them, you know them, why can’t you bring them to the table and say why are you doing this?” Aoun said. 

Bettison acknowledged that some officers have been specifically problematic by repeatedly issuing tickets, but said officers are not breaking the law by giving the tickets. Instead, they’re writing them in error. 

“That is a training issue right there,” Bettison said. “Some of the officers who are writing these tickets think they are doing the right thing.” 

Business owners say they are getting ticketed for not having a business license. Once they pay the ticket to handle the issue, they get ticketed again for not having a business license, because they are still waiting for city inspectors to show up at their stations and check everything before the process is complete. 

These business owners often wait a long time for inspectors to show up and they have no control over when an inspector arrives. In some cases, it takes the city months to send business licenses back to owners that apply for them. 

Gas station owner Fares Mohamed was ticketed for the same offense after paying his bill. 

“The police officer said ‘I’m allowed to give you a ticket everyday,’” Mohamad said. “I said everyday? He said, ‘yeah, everyday because you are opening a business with no license.’ I told him ‘here is the receipt, I paid for it.’” 

Mohamed has about seven or eight tickets already. He paid one and had two dismissed. He’s hired an attorney to handle one of the remaining tickets. 

 “You’re not allowed to get it until all inspection is done,” he said. “You’re missing one inspection because that inspector is late or maybe he has to do something else, so everyday that police officer could pass by.”

In May, The Arab American News reported that Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was looking to create a committee that will overlook licensing and other small business issues. 

The Detroit Police Department is currently under Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s control. Some believe the tickets are being issued to generate revenue for the bankrupt city. 

“You shouldn’t get two different tickets for the same thing on the same day,” Bettison said. “The officers, before they issue tickets to you for a business license, need to call and get authorization from the business license department so that they can be able to see that you did in fact pay.” 

Mohamed said he can’t take care of all his tickets in one day and that each one has to be handled in separate cases. 

Gas station owner Ghassan Hourani said handling several tickets has become extremely time consuming for businesses. 

“It is a waste of time and money for everyone,” he said. Business owners have spent hours trying to fight the tickets and in some cases the process can take months.  Hourani is encouraging gas station owners to become more involved with community organizations and churches in the city. 

Attendees at the meeting also expressed concern about the recent increase in fees. Gas station owners said they used to pay an annual $600 fee to the Detroit Fire Department. The fee can now cost as much as $1,500. 

“You are not the only business owners going through this,” Bettison said. “It is crippling our city and preventing it from growing.”

He promised he would work on solving the issues business owners have and try to restore the Detroit Police Department’s credibility with them. 

“Lately, we have had a lot of problems with the business licenses,” said gas station owner Issam Zahr. “Before, things were so much easier.”

Many of the gas station owners who attended the meeting have been operating their businesses in the city for decades, but are now considering leaving because of all the issues they’ve been having with ticketing, licensing and crime. 

Gas station owner Asad Mheisen said one of his employees called 911 about a shooting and it took the police an hour and a half to respond.

“When they finally showed up to the location, he [the police officer] didn’t even come out of his squad car,” Mheisen said. “And the first question that comes out of his mouth is ‘was there really a shooting that was going on?’”

His sarcastic reply to the officer was, “No, we’re just calling to make jokes.”