After CBS 2's Inquiry, Tow Zone Sign In Front Of Salon Will Go Down
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Tow zone signs - they're all over Chicago.
But one that suddenly went up outside a South Side salon has the angry owner turning to CBS 2 for help.
The salon owner is angry about the sign because many of his customers are elderly and disabled and there are few places to park nearby. But as we were working on the story, he got some encouraging news.
On a stretch of East 95th Street, abandoned businesses are locked up. Some are boarded up. But Phil Smith's Perfect Touch Salon is still here after all these years.
"Thirty-one years plus. And it's been a joy," Smith said.
A joy until Tuesday morning.
"The truck pulls up. (It's the) Department of Transportation and I saw him drilling in the ground and I asked him 'what are you doing?' He said 'well, we have to install this tow sign,'" Smith said.
For the first time in three decades, a "no parking" sign right was placed in front of Smith's salon, making it a tow zone.
"I'm taking it personal because a lot of my customers are handicapped. They're seniors. And they have labored walking," Smith said. "I am very livid."
Susan Smith is a long time client.
"I walked to the beauty shop because I didn't know if there would be any place for me to park," lamented Susan Smith.
CBS 2 asked the city's transportation department to explain why the "no parking" sign had to go up. A spokesperson said it had received a routine request from Ald. Anthony Beale's office.
And it's for "safety purposes," the spokesperson said, since the spot appears to be about 20 feet from a crosswalk.
But, two representatives from the alderman's office stopped told CBS 2 off-camera that while the alderman did indeed ask for "no truck parking" signs on the other side of 95th Street, it did not request the sign in front of Smith's salon.
"We got really good news," Phil Smith said. "We're happy. We're real happy."
The city promised him the sign will would come down.
The alderman's office said it's requesting that the sign be taken down right away but could not say when that will happen.
