New Towing Probe Sought

by Paul Bass | April 17, 2008 11:15 AM | | Comments (10)

Pressure mounted on the city’s scandal- plagued car-towing system, as two groups of aldermen called for another probe and City Hall weighed whether to remove a company from its towing list.

City Hall suspended its feared “Plate Finder” program last week after the Independent reported that a marshal called off a tow of a vehicle owned by the Rev. Boise Kimber, a pal of the mayor. The Plate Finder identifies cars whose owners owe back taxes or parking tickets, so companies can tow them away.

Mayor John DeStefano has initiated a review of the towing program, which is vital to his administration’s efforts to meet its annual budget, to probe the extent of political influence.

Now two teams of aldermen have submitted resolutions to launch independent looks at the program.

nhi-lot%20e%20cops%20013.JPG“Given the recent incidents and publicity around this issue, it is important for us as public officials to get a grasp on this program and the associated issues that have come to light,” wrote Aldermen Robert Lee, Gina Calder (pictured at left), Joseph Rodriguez, Jacqueline James, Andrea Jackson-Brooks, and Gerald Antunes in a letter Tuesday to Board President Carl Goldfield.

The letter requested “that the appropriate aldermanic committee hold a workshop to investigate the bootfinder program and the administration of it by city staff and state marshals.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, Goldfield himself joined colleagues Roland Lemar and Mordechai Sandman in submitting a letter with a similar request, to “hold a hearing to review the City’s towing policies.”

This letter cast the concern more as seasonal than a response to recent revelations of wrongdoing or other problems plaguing the program.

“Considering that street sweeping season is here and the recent publicity around towing and towers it is clear that there is a need for such a hearing to give our board, the public, and those responsible for towing the opportunity to proactively address issues before they become problems,” the letter stated.

Goldfield said Wednesday that the resolutions will be introduced at next Tuesday’s full board meeting. He expects them to go to the City Services and Environmental Committee.

City transportation czar Mike Piscitelli said he welcomes the probes. “When you have a situation like this, it’s important to be even more transparent,” he said.

Piscitelli is overseeing the DeStefano administration’s inquiry. He said he expects to have recommendations to present to the mayor by the middle of next week and then be ready to talk publicly about his take on “how we will fix the program.”

Recent stories in the Independent have identified four such potential problems. Besides the issue of insiders getting their cars or their friends’ vehicles literally off the towing hook:

• The sale by towing companies of abandoned cars may need a fresh look. A visit by the Independent to one such “auction” found it to be a sealed-bid affair with no oversight, and without essential information offered to bidders to give them a realistic chance of prevailing. Click on the play arrow on the play arrow to watch a video about that auction, and click here to read about it. (The state regulates the auctions, but the city places towing companies on a list to tow cars in the first place.)

• All the lucrative marshaling work for the Plate Finder program is going to four politically connected individuals — all of whom live outside New Haven. (Story here.)

• The city allegedly allowed one towing operator to get a double slot on the list of towers approved to remove cars parked past 4 p.m. on marked downtown streets. The operator opened a second, putatively independent, company on the same property in order to receive the second list. (The operator denies it.) Click here to read about that. Click on the play arrow at the top of this story to watch the operator’s version.

City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts said Wednesday that city lawyers “are doing an investigation. I expect to hear back very soon” and take action if it’s found that the arrangement isn’t legit.

Previous coverage of New Haven’s towing industry:

$200 For 4 Hours

Towing Program Halted

Kimber Gets Off The (Towing) Hook

“We’re Not Double-Dipping”

Alvin Goes For The Chevy

Towing Co. Ducks Tax Bill

Share this story: digg / newsvine / facebook

Comments

Posted by: Your Tax Dollars at Work [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 17, 2008 12:03 PM

Rick: [to Ilsa] I wouldn't bring up Paris if I were you, ... Captain Renault: Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects. ... Casablanca, 1942

A "roundup" here could fill the Shubert. But it would be a great circus. A little bread and we, the masses, might be satisfied enough to pay our taxes without complaining.

Posted by: 2faced | April 17, 2008 12:51 PM

I agree there should be a probe conducted...However, it alarms me that President of the BOA has taken it upon himself and other mayorial flunkies to not find a collective approach to addressing this issue. What happen to the BOA coming together and developing a strategy that gets the honest taxpayer a REAL resolution! Goldfield has exhibited his inability to bend on so many issues connected to his position of the BOA. Why must he always show such a lack of respect for those on the BOA who aren't in line with Johnny...but want to get the job DONE! As President he should of joined his fellow aldermen in their efforts...versus creating his own! Lets get serious, are you really trying to get down to the bottom of this? I think not! This practice has always given Johnmocracy types an opportunity to get over on deliquent taxes. Paul you are a gem for providing this forum! Hey, GOLDFIELD there is no I in the team!

Posted by: no | April 17, 2008 1:56 PM

Goldfield didn't issue a separate request for public hearing, he and Sandman just issued one at the same time - from what I hear, Goldfields was in first, not the other way around. Get you facts straight twofaced before you make accusations.

Posted by: donna | April 17, 2008 2:00 PM

GOLDFIELD
you got the president of boa because of king john..we all no it....you pretend to listen at boa meetings..shake hands with Blango the puppets of king john are alive and living very well

Posted by: 2faced | April 17, 2008 4:25 PM

NO-I knew that it would only be a matter of time before a flunkie would rear his or her ugly head...READ my statement before firing up your keyboard! I merely stated that GOLDFIELDS LACK OF RESPECT FOR OTHER BOARD MEMBERS that aren't connected to the hip of the mayor are individuals that GOLDFIELD does not actively work with to get the job DONE! AS president he lacks the skills to bring ALL BOA members collectively to the table to get things done! If this was not the case the article would of READ: BOA is Launching a Towing Probe! I think the facts are as clear; as the nose on your FACE!

Posted by: realdeal | April 18, 2008 6:41 AM

Its interesting how the administration is undertaking an investigation into their own inappropriate conduct of political favortism with the taxpayers money

Posted by: Mary Contrary | April 18, 2008 7:47 AM

Any prospective honest new police chief would be frightened away by this. If city hall is rotten the police house must be worse.

Posted by: Your Tax Dollars at Work [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 18, 2008 5:57 PM

Proposal: The City purchases 3 tow trucks and trains police officers to drive them. Part of the training is to qualify the officers as marshalls to serve papers (I think police officers are already so qualified)

The City also uses a piece of vacant land it owns as a place to store towed vehicles.

The City makes a reasonable charge to cover the City's cost of towing, storing, and maintaining this service (calculating the cost should include the amoritzed cost of maintaining the tow-trucks, and the whole service plus a small profit for "wiggle room").

One option would be to organize a municipal authority to take care of this business.

Benefits: (1) Folks who unfortunately get their vehicles towed would be charged a reasonable fee fairly representing the cost of operating the towing service, the storage facility and ancillary costs. (2) Politics would be eliminated from this whole smelly operation.

Drawbacks: (1) The towers who are supported by City taxes and City enterprise would basically have to look elsewhere for business (like the rest of us). (2) The Marshalls, politicians, and other feeders at the public trough would have to find honest jobs (like the rest of us). (3) If the system is operated properly, the Rev would have to pay his taxes and parking tickets (like the rest of us).

Problem: do you think Smuts is smart enough to handle this?

Posted by: mary contrary | April 18, 2008 11:24 PM

Lets face it folks, you and me will just pay more than our fair share to subsidize political croneys like Kimber, the Destefano family, and whoever is flavor of the month. Rome fell this way.

Posted by: realdeal | April 21, 2008 6:40 AM

The board of alderman should request Peter Criscoulo to testify at a public hearing to disclose who told him to not tow Kimber or why he took that action. The board of alderman should also seek to disclose from Mr Criscoulo at the hearing what he does politically, fundraising etc... that gets him the bulk of the city work. Thereafter an ordinance can be written to correct the defect.

Sections

Neighborhood News

Special Sections

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

Legal Notices

Flyerboard

Sponsors

N.H.I. Site Design & Development

NHI Store

Buy New Haven Independent Stuff

News Feed

Powered by
Movable Type 3.35