KANSAS CITY, Mo – Before the Tour of Missouri raced through Kansas City, organizers had to make sure streets on the route were clear of parked cars.
In the River Market area, some residents say the on-street restrictions took them by surprise.
On Saturday night, Diane Delich said her loft building’s parking lot was full so she grabbed a space near 5
th and Delaware. The next morning, Delich’s Honda had disappeared along with every other car on the block.
Delich noticed a temporary “No Parking” sign on the sidewalk. After making a few phone calls, she realized her car had been towed for the cycling event.
“The very first person I called was my landlord and asked if we were notified. He said there was not notice sent to the office,” Delich said. “If they sent them out, they certainly didn’t send them out to the River Market because there were a lot of people at the tow lot from this area.”
Near 3
rd and Delaware, photographer Tom Schmidt woke up Sunday morning for a scheduled shoot. Around 10 a.m., he noticed parking patrols all over the neighborhood.
“The next thing I knew, about half the cars parked on the street got towed and there was no notification,” Schmidt said.
Café al Dente owner Leonard Dwyer disagreed. He saw the temporary signs out on the sidewalk on Friday night.
“It should’ve been adequate for anyone with their eyes open,” Dwyer said.
Signs went up 24 to 48 hours in advance of the event, according to Alan Carr, director of communications with the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association. In addition, a letter was mailed out to all property owners along the route two weeks in advance.
“We feel like we did everything in our power to let people know,” said Carr, who guessed the letter made it to the property owners of some of the area’s loft buildings, but the message might not have spread to all residents.
Of the 20 cars towed for the event, nearly all of them were in the River Market, Carr said.
Delich paid more than $200 for the parking ticket and tow fee—an experience that made it tough to enjoy her front-row seat of the race.
“I was very excited about Tour of Missouri coming. Unfortunately, I don’t think they respected the citizens that hosted them very well by towing their cars,” she said.
