KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There’s lingering frustration Monday after more than two-dozen cars got towed from the Country Club Plaza during last weekend’s Trolley Run. One of the car owners said neither she, nor her friends, were parked illegally. A police spokesman told FOX 4 they get these calls every year during the Trolley Run.
The run is what brought Alexis Schweder to the Plaza. She said she’s now out of hundreds of dollars because of something the city didn’t make visible enough.
“I had my friend dropping me off and we drove around and my car wasn’t there and I was like that’s kind of strange,” she said.
Schweder later found out that her car had been towed. She was parked along Ward Parkway, which she said she does all the time.
“I would have never parked there had I seen a sign, had there been warnings,” she said.
On any other day she might not have gotten towed. A city spokesman told FOX 4 the city had put up temporary “No Parking” signs along the Trolley Run route, where it’s usually okay to park. Schweder said she never saw it, and wonders if that’s the way the city wanted it.
“The city just made about $6,000, $7,000 in just one night,” she speculated.
A total of 25 cars were towed. A police spokesman said it had to be done to keep the parade route safe. He also said the city put the signs up 24 hours prior to the run.
But that’s no comfort to Schweder, who said the tow charges and a ticket cost her $270. The tow also made for a pretty inconvenient Monday morning for the full-time student, who has a long drive to class.
“I go to KU. I live in Kansas City, but I commute to Lawrence and I had an exam this morning that I had to rescheduled because I couldn’t get my car out in time,” she said.
Schweder said she was told that the city use to put up cones and barriers to make the temporary parking spots more obvious, but that they stopped because people would simply move them. By the time FOX 4 checked out the complaint, we were unable to reach the city for a comment. We’ll follow up on that Tuesday.
