City Tows Several Cars At Tulsa Property For Code Violation; Owner Claims Misunderstanding

City of Tulsa code inspectors seized several cars at a property Wednesday in west Tulsa.

The city said the property near Charles Page Boulevard and South 49th West Ave. had trash, illegal water, and lots of cars that weren't running and they had to come in and seize several of them, but the property owner said it's all a misunderstanding.

Tow truck drivers loaded up seven vehicles and hauled them away.

City inspectors gave tickets to the property owner, Walter Ewing, for other cars they weren’t able to remove.

City inspectors said they gave Ewing a notice a few months ago to clean up the junk on his property, but he didn't.

“I work a full-time job and I can't afford to pay a bunch of people to come in here and do it.”

Ewing said he bought both of these properties in 2019 and said after going to prison, some people came in and trashed the place.

He said he has titles to all the cars, and he uses them to teach his nephews how to fix vehicles.

“Teach my nephews responsibility and how to work on things," he said.

“Nothing here is stolen, there's no chop shop here.”

But the city said Ewing wasn’t paying for water and had violations for tall grass and trash.

The city posted signs on both properties to show the homes are unfit for living.

City ordinances said inoperable vehicles have to be in an enclosed structure like a garage and a vehicle outside, has to look like it works.

Ewing says he didn’t know he couldn’t store his non-working cars in his yard.

"I didn't know there was a certain amount of cars you could or couldn't have.”

Ewing said he has a few days to clean up the mess and the city said if it’s not cleaned up, they’ll send their own crews here and Ewing will have to foot the bill.

The city wants you to report code issues to city hall, but if you see something illegal, call 911.