A "Pleasant" Towing Experience Downtown - And Response (2)

  • Sunday, March 29, 2015

I had a pleasant experience today. I met a friend of mine today for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings downtown which whom I had not seen in a long time. I also walked out to discover that my 2013 Ford was missing. 

Vehicles were being towed in volumes. I asked one of the tow truck drivers about it and he said they towed it (from the lot next door) to Carter Towing at 1619 Dodds Ave. I returned to the restaurant and spoke to the manager who had my tag number. A nice person reported it to him because he or she was concerned because my car was literally dragged off. There are skid marks of which I will take pictures. BWW has put out numberous signs about this but they keep getting "stolen" three times per week on average. I was also told that the police are called routinely about stolen vehicles. It was told to me that it would cost $150 to get it out. Upon showing up to pay for my vehicle, I was told that the driver was wrong and it would be $200. There went my budget for the month. 

If not mistaken, George Walls owns part of the property around there. I inquired about how did they know I ate there and not Chee Burger Chee Burger and was told "he always watches the property." I asked: "how?" No answer. 

A few thoughts: 

What are tourists supposed to think? 

BWW lost a weekly customer at that location and that is not their fault. 

What other businesses are losing customers from this? 

David Mason 

* * *  

Mr. Mason, 

Did you fail to notice the signs or did you think they were kidding?  The owner of Cheeburger-Cheeburger has responded to complaints many times regarding parking, he has a right to keep Wild Wings customers from taking all his customers parking spots that belong to his business.

The real question should be posed to the Wild Wings owers:  Why would you build a restaurant that large without providing adequate parking?  If your are driving and want to frequent BWW I suggest you go to the Hixson location as they have plenty of parking there.

Jerry Hickey
Chattanooga 

* * * 

I read Mr. Mason’s comments about getting towed and recall a couple of similar incidents a while back. 

About a three years ago, my daughters and I had had dinner at with another family at the same Buffalo Wild Wings detailed in the article. Unlike Mr. Mason, we parked in the paid parking area across the street.  We met our friends inside Buffalo Wild Wings and had great time. As we left, we started walking and I said “Which way is your car?” The mom motioned down the alley towards the parking lot for Chee Burger, Chee Burger. 

Our two families walked down the alley and at some point she said “Where is my car?!?!?!?” (to be nice, I deleted a few words). She pointed to a now empty parking space. 

I asked her if she had not read the many, many articles on Chattanoogan.com about cars getting towed from this lot. Unfortunately, she had not. 

As her temper understandably began to flare she said something about not knowing she wasn’t supposed to park there. My eleven year old daughter said “You mean like what it says on those signs?” and pointed at the signs that are posted all the way down the alley (one was within 15’ of the now empty parking space). Because its been a while, I don’t remember the exact wording but, in essence, the signs said “Parking for Chee Burger only. All other cars WILL be towed!!”  The signs are lit and are about every 20’ +- down the alley. The same signs were all over the back lot.  When we got to the towing place, the tow truck driver told us that they watch the lot and, if someone parks in the lot and goes somewhere else to eat, their car gets an expensive ride to Dodds Avenue. 

Ten years earlier, I also had my car towed from a downtown lot across from Buehler's Market. In that case, there was also a huge sign that gave fair warning that, should I choose to park there, my car would get a non free ride down to a tow lot on MLK. About half way through lunch, my girlfriend said “Hey…the car on the back of that tow truck looks a lot like yours!!!”  She was right and that cold beer and BBQ cost me a couple of hundred bucks. I had no one to blame but the short dude in the mirror. Her dad found it pretty funny. 

All successful downtowns across the nation have a shortage of parking. Chattanooga is no different in that respect. When a business owner goes to the expense of providing free parking for his customers, it costs him a ton of money (otherwise he could just sell the premium property where the parking lot sits). He is not providing free parking for patrons of other businesses. 

The choice seems simple: pay to park in one of a gazillion parking lots downtown, only eat at places where parking is provided for free, buy a parking lot, or pay the tow truck driver. 

Arch Willingham 

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