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On Friday and Saturday nights, 21 vehicles were towed from Montgomery Plaza in the bustling West 7th Street corridor for being illegally parked, a resumption of a policy that had been suspended in the wake of some controversial towing practices (“Wreckers Haul Away Dozens from Montgomery Plaza,” Blotch, Monday, Jan. 16; “Montgomery Plaza Parking Over the Weekend,” Blotch, Monday, Jan. 23).

Fort Worth police officer Ken Jacobs, neighborhood patrol officer for the area encompassing West 7th and the nearby Cultural District, said a spotter hired by Montgomery Plaza warned every individual who illegally parked in the plaza’s lot to either relocate his or her vehicle or face towing. Several individuals, Jacobs said, “ignored [the spotter] and parked there anyway.”

Jacobs said that spillover from Montgomery Plaza’s lot leaked into the apartment complex across the street, nearby Sovereign Bank, and several other West 7th businesses. “Some of these folks coming over here just don’t care or respect other businesses,” Jacobs said. “It’s sad, but it’s human nature for some of these folks. … They just need to learn to park legally, or their cars won’t be there.”

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In a previous conversation, Dustan Goodell, president and CEO of Somerset Association Management, the Dallas company that runs Montgomery Plaza, said he is looking into validated parking –– only one of the plaza’s establishments, BoomerJack’s Grill & Bar, is open late, when business in the West 7th corridor begins picking up. A vast majority of the plaza’s other businesses close at around 6 p.m.

In the nearby entertainment-and-retail development known simply as West 7th, gates have been installed in the handful of the development’s parking facilities, possibly signifying the advent of paid parking.

Officer Jacobs also said that to increase safety in the West 7th development he’s begun discussions with the city’s public works department to install all-way stops and crosswalks and also block off curbs near stop signs by installing no-parking/-stopping/-standing signs, which will promote increased intersection visibility.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. Oh, it’s the people who aren’t “respecting” businesses? I think it’s more like Montgomery Plaza that isn’t respecting the people who frequent the West 7th businesses. MP has 1 business open until 2, and more than enough parking spots for that business. If you can hire a “spotter” to warn people, why not make that person collect a fee for people to park there instead? People can park, and MP is compensated.

  2. The lack of these businesses working together to solve this problem is both astonishing and disheartening. There’s no reason why a creative solution can’t be generated to solve the problems on West 7th. This area will fail to meet it’s full potential until it’s accessability problems are taken care of.

  3. Boomoers is not the only business open after 6. There are alot of other restaurants that are open after 6. Get your facts straight please.

  4. @Karen. I said “a vast majority … around 6pm,” and while I know Gloria’s and maybe Axiom stay open past 6pm on weekends, neither is open as late as “Boomoers.”

    @Reader. Montgomery Plaza is bound by lease agreements with its tenants to keep parking the way it is, and unless MP’s tenants band together and say, “The more the merrier!” — as some folks believe the tenants should, for the benefit of the ENTIRE area — Montgomery Plaza’s parking arrangement probably isn’t going to change anytime soon.

  5. I completely agree with Jake. West 7th business owners need to get together and come up with a parking solution or else the area is going to lose it’s popularity.

  6. seems like these Dallas business owners are beginning to bring the same crooked, twisted logic they use for parking in Dallas in Fort Worth

  7. “only one of the plaza’s establishments, BoomerJack’s Grill & Bar, is open late, when business in the West 7th corridor begins picking up. A vast majority of the plaza’s other businesses close at around 6 p.m.”

    Are you freakin’ kidding?
    Gloria’s, Sushi Axiom, Starbucks, Pei Wei, Pie5, all close at 6pm? I don’t think so.

  8. They’re still towing cars of those doing business in the plaza. I agree with @Jake ‘s comments. I won’t be going to any businesses or restaurants in that area again.

  9. They are absolutely still towing. I was towed Dec. 21 – after eating at Chick Fil A in my car, parking, and then walking across the street… Lone Star Towing tows dozens of cars every night. Montgomery Plaza sucks balls for allowing the toothless high school dropouts of Lone Star Towing to do their dirty work. Shopping at MP and then walking across the street to another store gives these thieves legal cover to take your car and charge you $300 to get it back. What low down scum suckers they are! The managers at MP are even bigger cowards for allowing this. File a complaint with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation – look them up online and do it. It will make a difference!

  10. Yep, still towing in Jan 2013. 5 spotters working about 50 yards, yanking cars as fast as they can without warning drivers even when they park right beside the spotters. Shameful. If you really want to help, spend a night warning drivers as they cross the street. Contact your lawmakers. You elected them yet they allow laws to be cleverly crafted to benefit the towing industry. $300 dollars for a 2.8 mile tow… insane!

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