Business owner asking city council for help in Lee-Harvard neighborhood as crime increases

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - A local businessman is asking Cleveland's city council for help to stop massive crowds that he says congregate with their cars and motorcycles nearly every weekend, blocking the entrance to his parking lot.

The businessman claims the crowds scare away paying customers and lead to fights and other violence.

Just a couple of weeks ago the businessman, Mohamed Shady was put in a chokehold by a man who got angry when Shady asked him to move his car.

Shady runs the Sunoco gas station on Harvard and East 175th Street in Cleveland, and tells 19 News that on the weekends people park their cars in his lot, and walk away to go to a neighboring bar.

The problem is the cars block the gas pumps and scare off customers who want to fill up their tanks or grab a drink from the convenience store.

"When it starts to get darker people start to park everywhere. They block the business completely. They're not coming to do business here, they're just coming to drink liquor and smoke weed, and then they go to the bar across the street," Shady said.

The businessman says he has tried to work with the neighboring bar by asking the owner and the security to urge their customers to move their cars and bikes. He said in many cases, the drivers refuse to move their vehicles.

A man associated with the bar refused to identify himself, but he claims it only happened one weekend and not all the time. Sunoco's manager tells me there's only action when he turns on an obnoxiously loud alarm that he's installed, or when Cleveland Police arrive.

The businessman himself was also a victim of the growing violence, telling 19 News he was attacked and put in a chokehold in his own parking lot when he simply asked a man to please move his car.

"I got the license plate number and everything, and I filed a report," said Shady. "But they did nothing when I called police and the prosecutor."

Shady claims he also repeatedly reached out to Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones and received no response or help.