Man Reimbursed After Car Erroneously Towed From Market Square

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Joe Smetana parked in Market Square, but when he came back his car had been towed away.

It was gone he said and when asked if there was any sign, he said, "Not to my knowledge, there was no no parking sign posted."

His car was towed to make room for valet parkers -- who according to KDKA's Andy Sheehan's reports showed overstepped their bounds by blocking off most of Market Square and having legally parked cars towed away -- and ticketed.

Kristal Glancy fed the meter but had her car towed as well.

"I thought my car was stolen," she said.

But today, a magistrate in traffic court began setting thing right by throwing Smetana's ticket out.

"I'm just glad it's over," he said.

Smetana will be reimbursed $96 for the parking ticket and magistrate Derwin Rushing says he is looking into whether the city can pay Smetana back the $115 he paid to get his car out of the pound.

But the reforms don't end there.

KDKA's stories showed the Tri-State Valet, which is owned by a friend of former Police Chief Nate Harper, had valet parking variances that tied up streets in downtown. Now, the bureau now issued an order limiting each variances to four spaces.

"We need more checks in balances in local government for example to check on the variances in the city of Pittsburgh."

Since we aired our reports, KDKA's Sheehan got close to a dozen calls from people who had their cars owed out of Market Square for valet parking.

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