Residents of Yates Street in Denver were recently scratching their heads and searching for their cars.
The homes on the street were recently built, and many of their garages are still under construction — so most residents are forced to park on the street. But on Friday morning residents discovered their cars were gone. They say they received no knocks on their door or notice to advise them they would be towed, other than confusing signs with masking tape on them.
Yates Street is no stranger to “no parking” signs.
“This is the place where signs come to die,” said resident Garrett Weekley.
Residents say several sawhorse “no parking” signs have been present for months, but the rules have never been enforced.
“It has been that way the whole time. I mean, like there’s signs thrown in the grass, there’s signs turned around, that one’s leaned against the mailbox,” said Weekley.
Until Friday morning. When Tanner Krenzien went to pick up his husband from cancer treatment he says he “came out and the entire block was clear of cars, and I was like ‘Oh my goodness what’s going on here?'”
What was going on was all the cars on the street had been towed.
Krenzien’s husband had to take an Uber home from the hospital.
“He’s already got an immunocompromised system, so for him to be in the car with an Uber is not ideal” said Krenzien.
Krenzien called the city of Denver.
“They gave me five different numbers for different contractors they use for towing. I called all of them and they said ‘Oh yeah, we relocated that to Dry Gulch, the road down there,'” said Krenzien.
Krenzien found both his and his husband’s cars on a nearby road. Each had been cited for $175.
“There was a line of cars all with citations on them,” said Krenzien.
But why were they all towed? That’s still unclear.
“They didn’t do construction. There’s been no road work done here for a reason to tow cars,” said Weekley.
Weekley was at work, so his car wasn’t towed. He says the only notice neighbors got came in the form of masking tape added to the parking signs.
“I didn’t realize that masking tape was considered official city notice,” said Weekley.
The dates on the signs are also inconsistent.
“The sign across the street says 12/20. These ones say 2/16 / 2/23. And it’s a slash, it’s not a dash so is it the 16th through the 23rd is it the 16th and the 23rd?” Asked Weekley.
Now neighbors are left with citations and questions.
“I’m parking down the street now but where is the car safe? And are they just gonna move these signs throw them on the road and use the same excuse?” Asked Krenzien.
The neighbors CBS Colorado spoke with all say they’ll be disputing the citations they got. The City of Denver did not respond to a request for comment.
