Taco Rock 29 owner alleges harassment by America 1st over FPL easement
PNJ Headlines: Here’s what’s in the news Friday
Pensacola pushes back on Governor’s DOGE report, trial for man charged with girlfriend’s murder, and Brownsville Business Incubator in Friday’s news
- Taco Rock 29 and America 1st Auto Sales have called police on each other several times over parking lot dispute.
- Taco Rock 29 has been in business at their location on Highway 29 in Car City for 30 years and hasn’t had problems this serious before now and harassment is hurting his business.
- The manager of America 1st Auto Sales says they are not causing any problems over parking and they are being harassed by management at Taco Rock 29.
Mainor Diaz has been serving tacos, nachos and other Mexican dishes from his restaurant Taco Rock 29 on Highway 29 in Pensacola’s Car City for more than 30 years.
He says there’s nothing he enjoys more than feeding the community he has called home for so long and the family run restaurant makes it a priority to keep customers coming back for the food and friendly faces.
“We’re just here to make tacos and make you happy,” said chef and family member Odette Ramirez. “I tell my customers if you come to Taco Rock depressed you will not leave depressed, because we love them.”
Lately, Diaz and Ramirez say it has been hard to focus solely on their business because of what they say is continued harassment from the owner of a car dealership that began leasing the property next door to the restaurant about five months ago.
They say America 1st Auto Sales is trying to “take over” the parking lot that is between the two businesses and the ongoing problems have taken a toll on Taco Rock 29 sales.
“We’ve been open since 1994 and we’ve never had issues like this,” Diaz said. “They don’t have parking for employment. They don’t have parking for customers. They don’t have handicap parking. It’s like he doesn’t want me to use our own parking lot, but they want to drive on my property to get to it. We know it’s an easement, but that doesn’t mean they can take over.”
Caught between Taco Rock 29 and a car place
Ramirez said the interior of Taco Rock 29 is being renovated and the restaurant is currently drive-thru and walk-up customers only, but many customers still need a place to park.
All but about 8 feet of the parking lot between the two businesses belongs to Diaz, including the two entrances/exits on either end of it.
A narrow slice of the parking lot, closest to America 1st Auto Sales, is owned by Florida Power and Light (FPL) and is part of a wider chunk of FPL’s easement that the power company rents to the owner of the property next door, which is Ramzan Ali Trustee, Ramzan Ali Revocable Trust, according to the Escambia County Property Appraiser’s website.
The section of easement runs the length of about a dozen parking spaces and covers about half the size of those spaces, not enough for a full-sized car or truck to fully take up the space.
Separating the parking lot from the auto dealership is a boundary of plants and mulch, lined on each side by pavers, all property lines that Ramirez says were established long before Taco Rock 29 bought their property decades ago.
The Taco Rock 29 family says they have previously requested to buy the strip of easement from FPL, but instead FPL agreed to let them use it if their trucks had access to it if needed. They wish they had rented the entire property.
Diaz and Ramirez say problems are an everyday occurrence because employees, customers and 18-wheeler trucks delivering cars for America 1st Auto Sales regularly pull into the parking lot and take up space that don’t belong to them, which blocks and discourages the restaurant’s customers from patronizing their business.
“You can look at our average daily sales and see where we lose money when he has trucks unloading cars in our parking lot or his employees and customers crowding the spaces or making it difficult to get in and out of the back entrance,” Ramirez said. “And we’re constantly cleaning up trash and grease or filling in potholes from the damage.”
When they tried to talk with America 1st Auto Sales owner/manager Adam Alashqar about it, they said he insisted the strip of easement was his under his lease with FPL and there was nothing they could do about it.
Alashqar admits that both entrances/exits of the parking lot belong to Taco Rock and that he must drive on their property to utilize the slice of FPL easement he says is part of his lease, but that he doesn’t want the space for the business and his neighbors are being difficult.
Diaz and Ramirez argue Alashqar has been relentless and regularly harasses them by hurling insults at them and their families, constantly driving through the parking lot, often “aggressively” and sometimes nearly hitting members of the family, as well as sending employees and customers to park there.
They’ve taken numerous pictures and videos to prove their point.
“It has been five months of stress,” Ramirez said. “Every day he does things to cause us to lose money because he has so many cars on his property that he can’t even fit his employees’ cars. Our customers don’t know what’s going on and they see all this, and it hurts our business.”
Alashqar denies all the allegations and says he has never tried to run anyone over or done anything illegal. He told the News Journal he just wants to make the owners of Taco Rock 29 “happy,” although he insists the strip of easement is his property under his lease with FPL.
“You want to act like you’re innocent and the victim, you can, but the law is the law,” Alashqar said of Ramirez and Diaz. “There’s no sympathy in the law.”
Those are the same words Ziad Hilweh texted Ramirez when she also reached out to him about the problems. According to the Florida Division of Corporations website, Hilweh is the registered agent and representative of the dealership that was created last May.
“Please grow up and stop crying wolf,” Ramirez said Hilweh texted her. “Adam never harassed you or came on your property. In fact, you are and have been harrassing us and our customers.”
The restaurant owners said numerous tenants have rented the property next door over the years, including other car dealerships, and for the most part there have been few problems over the smaller section of easement that stretches into the parking lot.
The two business owners tried to find a compromise when Diaz allowed employees of the auto dealership to park in several spaces, but the problems have continued.
Crossing the property line
Both business owners have called the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office over issues.
Ramirez reported Alashqar for coming onto their property at night and for harassing them. Alashqar reported them for harassing his customers when they park in the lot.
“I feel like we’re supposed to be neighbors, we’re supposed to be looking out for each other,” Alashqar said. “My whole story is I can’t control what people do. She’s (Ramirez) mad at me because people park here sometimes and I can’t control that.”
At one point, Ramirez and Diaz said a deputy was going to have a car that belonged to the restaurant owner towed because Alashqar told him the parking lot belonged to him. They said the deputy switched gears after Ramirez showed their survey of the property.
“We’ve called the police many times, they still do whatever they want,” Diaz said. “The police told us they can do nothing because it’s not our property, it’s easement. Adam won’t give up. He swore on his son that he won’t leave me alone. We need help because we don’t expect him to stop. We just want to keep it like it has been for 30 years.”
Seeking solutions
Hilweh and Alashqar both have said they would take legal action. Ramirez said she has also consulted an attorney who says they do not have a case because the easement belongs to FPL.
Diaz said they are considering putting up a fence to help curtail the problems, but it would create an inconvenience for their customers, as well.
They are also open to FPL building a fence between along their property line, even though it would impact the dozen or so parking spaces.
FPL declined to comment on the situation saying they do not address leases of tenants due to privacy.
Diaz and Ramirez are concerned the situation will escalate, especially because they are Latino and some people have been increasingly aggressive with them despite being American citizens and long time members of the community.
“I just want my peace,” Ramirez said.
link
