BATON ROUGE — New requirements will soon go into effect for tire dealers in East Baton Rouge Parish, and some tire shops are not fully in favor of them.

Councilman Darryl Hurst spoke with WBRZ about the new requirements as a way to reduce blight and combat illegal tire dumping. He said the parish noticed tire shops hauling tires and dumping them in neighborhoods.  The parish will soon require a yearly $100 permit for shops to continue operation, starting March 1.

“We have to fight blight. We want to stop crime, blight leads to crime. This is the first step to make Baton Rouge the best place for people to work and play,” said Hurst.

Owner of G&T Tires, Bryan Glover, said he believes this will hurt businesses who follow the rules.

“Everybody should not get punished for what someone else is doing. It doesn't make no sense, and they already know who the bad actors are or else they wouldn’t be saying it,” said Glover. 

Another requirement for shops is they can only display five tires outside, which Glover said he does not disagree with.

“I can’t stand the way it [tires] looks. It brings rodents, mosquitoes, and flies, so you’ll never see a tire around no business that I own,” he said.

Glover said he has a better suggestion to combat both blight and crime in the parish.

“Instead of taking the money and giving it back to the city, distribute that money that you take to some of these younger guys and put together street teams to clean the tires up,” Glover said.

Glover said he believes the money will benefit the youth more. 

“Why would I take and give it to the city when I know all these kids out here need some money. A hundred dollars? That’s at least four or five kids you can help," You won’t have no tires on the street, they'll pick them all up. They’ll find tires where you can’t.”