Miami-Dade fines car repair shop after neighbors reach out to CBS News Miami

Clemistine Patterson says the alley to her home looks clearer compared to two weeks ago.

When CBS News Miami visited July 20, there were cars spilling onto the street from Arrow Muffler and Auto Repair on 7th Avenue, blocking lanes of traffic and the alleyways.

"It looks a lot different compared to how it looked then. I do see some changes. I'm happy but that should never have been in our community." 

Patterson's family reached out to CBS News Miami about the shop. 

"I didn't want anymore warnings," Patterson said.

CBS News Miami sent photos of the cars to Miami-Dade County, and found out the county had cited the property six times since 2020. 

The county told CBS News Miami that based on the photos that were sent to them, the property's conditions were worse than when it was cited before.

Within hours of notifying Miami Dade about this, three code compliance officers came out July 20. 

County officials say they found nine violations, including junk, trash, vehicles and parts being stored and repaired outside of the property. 

"Sometimes people have to be fitted because if they never pay for what they do, nothing will ever change," Patterson said.

The county also issued the property seven citations, including failing to have a property registration and doing unauthorized repairs under the shop's current license. 

CBS News Miami spoke to the shop's manager off camera. He says that he's cleared the alley and removed trash and some of the extra cars out front. The manager says he is working to get into compliance after numerous violations. 

For Patterson, she says she's gotten much faster results than calling the county herself. 

"Only way we got anything done was thanks to Channel 4," Patterson said.

County officials say they will do follow up inspections at the end of the month, and if there are repeat violations, fines will be doubled.