Arlington mural of Rougned Odor's famous punch will be allowed to stay, despite city code controversy
ARLINGTON, Texas - The City of Arlington says it will allow a mural to stay up on a taco shop's wall, after originally asking the restaurant to take it down.
The mural on Gilberto's Taco Shop depicts former Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor punching Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista in the jaw in 2016.
Jose Ruiz, the owner of Gilberto's Taco Shop, says he got the idea to put the mural on the side of his restaurant after seeing other businesses with similar artwork.
"I'm a Cowboys fan, I'm a Rangers fan," said Ruiz. "Anything that has to do with Texas, I'm going to like."
Baseball: Texas Rangers Rougned Odor (12) landing punch vs Toronto Blue Jays Jose Bautista (19) during fight at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Sequence. Arlington, TX 5/15/2016 CREDIT: Greg Nelson (Photo by Greg Nelson /Sports Illustrated via Getty Im
Arlington sent a letter to the restaurant's owner saying the mural is not allowed under the Unified Development Code.
The code says that painted wall murals are only allowed in Downtown Arlington and the Entertainment District. Gilberto's is located on W. Park Row Drive, which is just outside the downtown area.
"It's sad, it's a little upsetting. All I can do is hope for the best," said Ruiz. "I love Arlington. I want to stay in Arlington, so I wanted this to represent a good cause for Arlington."
The city appears to have had a change of heart.
In a statement to FOX 4 a spokesperson for Arlington said, "The City has no immediate plans to take action regarding the mural at Gilberto’s Taco Shop and will seek feedback from the Arlington City Council on whether it would like to make changes to the mural policy."
FOX 4 was at the taco shop when Arlington mayor Jim Ross met with Ruiz.
Ross said he thinks the mural is "gorgeous."
"It took a building that wasn't the prettiest building around and put a beautiful mural on it," said Ross. "It's outside of where we typically allow murals, outside of our city ordinance, but what we've decided to do right now is just not enforce that. We're going to give City Council an opportunity to reevaluate our ordinance on where murals are allowed."
Ross said he didn't have any issue with the subject matter of the mural.
"Our Rangers? Are you kidding me? There isn't better subject matter in Texas," he said. "This shows Arlington pride, and we're all about that."
The city staff is expected write up a report on the current city code and look into potential changes to better accommodate businesses like Gilberto's.
"We want to encourage entrepreneurs to come in and beautify these old buildings here," said Ross. "We can hold off and put the brakes on things until we get things adjusted for him"
Ruiz says since the news got out about his mural potentially being taken down several people have stopped by the shop, which has not yet opened, to take pictures and share words of encouragement.
"This actually went viral in less than 24 hours, and I'm just happy that people really care about Gilberto's Taco Shop, and they find this a good thing," he said.