It was like a neighborhood block party at the auto pound Sunday as dozens of Ravenswood residents woke up Sunday morning to find their cars missing.
Resident Sali Dalipi has a work and personal car. Both were towed.
"I went out at 8:30 and Both cars gone. Minutes later, other people coming out looking for cars and furious," Dalipi said.
"I had no idea until I got here and saw everyone in the neighborhood towed for the same reasons," said Eileen Cicotello.
The reason so many residents spent their Sunday together at the auto pound had to do with a charity run. The annual event blocks off several North Side streets for a few hours. The Ravenswood Run has been a tradition for 12 years and is sponsored by the All Saints Episcopal church.
With the help of an alderman, that church distributed flyers and mass emails to all residents about the parking restrictions. 'No parking' signs were posted, but those in the auto pound line say they never saw them on their streets.
"I don't know if someone tore the signs or something. It was windy yesterday, [maybe they] blew off. I had no previous knowledge of this. It's ridiculous," said Dalipi.
To prove their case, others took pictures of the ripped signs...
"We want our money back. This isn't right," said Jeff Walker.
While waiting a couple hours to get his car out, Walker collected signatures for a petition he plans to give to Ald. Gene Schulter. The 47th Ward alderman says residents did get plenty of advance notice about the run. However, he says the city told him, vehicles would not be towed.
"I think a full-fledge investigation is warranted here to see who dropped the ball?" Schulter said.
It cost $160 for drivers in the long line to get their car out of the pound.
