No-Notice Tows Rile East Rock

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by Paul Bass | Nov 21, 2008 1:28 pm

(42) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: East Rock

Molly Wheeler came home at 10:30 p.m. She parked her car on Edwards. She saw no signs warning her not to.

The next day her 1993 Honda Accord was gone.

She thought it might have been stolen. Then she saw a sign saying street sweepers were coming — the following day.

Her car had been towed.

Listening to Molly Wheeler (pictured), you might think she just didn’t see the emergency no-parking sign. That happens to lots of people whose cars get towed for street sweeping

But when Wheeler went to retrieve her car Wednesday from Tony’s Long Wharf, she found a crowd of her neighbors doing the same — and making the same complaint. They too insisted no signs had been posted the night before, at least not before they went to bed.

“It was like an East Rock parade,” she said. “People were pissed.” They exchanged phone numbers; one towee discussed the possibility of legal action.

The Independent, too, started hearing stories like Wheeler’s from East Rockers after what appeared to be an overnight bonanza for tow companies and city government fine-collectors.

City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts has received complaints too. Click here to read a letter he wrote in response to some of the complaints.

He also reported Friday that the city towed twice as many cars as usual this week in East Rock. He said he didn’t know why yet. The city’s looking into it, he said. (Public works chief John Prokop, who reports to Smuts, was out of town this week.)

Mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga insisted “sufficient paper signs were posted … 24 hours in advance of the posted sweep” in East Rock.

At this point, it’s her word against the neighborhood’s.

And it’s the latest episode in a year-long series of controversies pitting car owners against a cash-strapped city. Sometimes the city tows cars to clear streets for sweeping crews, like the ones that collected leaves on East Rock roads Wednesday and Thursday. Other times it sends crews to check license plates of parked cars to abscond with cars whose owners owe back taxes.

Such efforts have helped New Haven avoid higher tax increases or more painful budget cuts the past few years. On the other hand, the city has seen episodes of political favoritism and remarkable incompetence, such as the repeated towing (five times!) of a Hamden woman’s car because a computer kept reading one letter of her license plate wrong.

No Sign Of Trouble

Such aggressive tactics have made car-owners wary. Arabella Yip and her boyfriend both came home to Humphrey Street around the same time Tuesday night, 8:30 p.m. Yip looked for no-parking signs before leaving her MINI Clubman. She didn’t see any. Nor did her boyfriend. A metal sign reassured her that street sweeping would occurred only between April 1 and Nov. 1.

(“That is what is posted on the signs, which we are in the process of taking down,” Rob Smuts said. The metal signs refer to regular street sweeping. Wednesday and Thursday’s runs were for leaves, for which paper signs are used.)

“The irony,” Yip remarked later, “is that we actually talked about how we didn’t have to worry about street sweeping anymore when we were parking that night, which of course prompted us to look.”

No such luck. Both their cars were gone the next morning.

At first, she recalled, they were “alarmed, because we thought our cars had been stolen (which they effectively were). Then we were relieved when we found out they were towed, then angry and frustrated. We also felt powerless — what’s to prevent this from happening again? Will we have to constantly wake up in the middle of the night to check that some random decrepit piece of paper hadn’t been secretly posted on some random bush a block and a half away from my car?”

Their cars had been towed to two separate lots. They paid $12 for a cab ride to the first lot to pick the first car. Each tow cost $77. That’s on top of the $50 city fine for each car. At each tow shop they encountered “at least ten” of their neighbors.

Rafael Rosengarten said he happened to check twice for no-parking notices on Orange Street between Pearl and Eld — once when he drove his Subaru Forester downtown around 9 p.m. Tuesday, then when he returned around 1 a.m. He insisted he saw no signs before retiring.

The next morning, when his car had vanished, he reported, “I saw what may have been the remnant of a sign, basically some duct tape and a bit of poster-board, attached to a pole about a block away from where I had parked on Orange Street. I did see some signs left up on Pearl Street.

“My whole day was ruined by the incident. I was fuming the entire day. After retrieving my car I felt somewhat relieved, but still like I had been taken advantage of. “

Rosengarten reported one silver lining: “The tow truck company used a flat-bed for my car, which is all-wheel-drive. Had they dragged it they would have ripped up the alignment.”

Clank

Molly Wheeler wasn’t so lucky. She never made it home from Tony’s Long Wharf.

She started driving, then had to stop. The engine shield had fallen off and hit the ground.

Tony’s was nice enough to fix her car for her — and owner Tony Juliano promised to refund her $77. (She said she’s still trying to arrange a time to get her money back. Juliano couldn’t be reached for comment.)

Note: If you live in Wooster Square or Fair Haven, look out for signs Sunday night. Leaf sweeping will take place in the neighborhoods Monday.

Better yet, find a driveway.

Comments

posted by: Streever on November 21, 2008 1:49pm

I was so annoyed at the city blanketing the trees in my neighborhood I was tempted to pull them off. Good thing I didn’t…. but someone else must have, because I know I saw signs covering Edwards Street. Very odd, especially as it coincides with so many of us practically begging Public Works to stop ripping bark off trees with their signs.

posted by: Peter on November 21, 2008 1:58pm

I had my car towed on Woodward ave and there were no signs at all. I contested the ticket, which was dropped but I had to pay the tow fee…RIDICULOUS

posted by: Pedro on November 21, 2008 2:19pm

They hit Lyon and William streets this morning. I watched them tow away all of the cars that were illegally parked. There were plenty of signs, so there was adequate warning. However, I DID see 2 4-Wheel-Drive SUVs being inappropriately towed by 2 wheels instead of by flatbed, potentially severely damaging them.

posted by: Uncle Nunzio on November 21, 2008 2:32pm

I drive through the East Rock neighborhood on a daily basis. Over the past couple of days there have been clearly labeled signs indicating that street sweeping was happening. Granted, having to move your car is no fun… but don’t go whining about it because you didn’t think the signs were serious.

Street sweeping is just another commonality of living in a city, just like trash day. If you live in a neighborhood, you should have some awareness of when those days are.

posted by: EastRockElephant on November 21, 2008 3:08pm

The same thing happened to me and my girlfriend… I really hope the city re-pays all of us who got towed without proper notice (despite what the city says)...

posted by: Kevin Ewing on November 21, 2008 3:18pm

This happened to me and at least one of my neighbors a week or so ago. I got home after midnight (from Streever’s birthday party)and parked in my usual spot in front of my apartment. There is a pole right next to the spot and typically there are signs posted there. No sign. I came out the next day and my car was gone. I turned in the form contesting the towing and the ticket.

I’ve paid my share of parking fines in this town. Every one of them I earned fairly because I didn’t feed the meter or didn’t read the sign. I’ve paid every one (even paid triple for the first one because I didn’t pay it in time.) I am willing to pay to play.

And I appreciate that they are making an attempt to sweep the streets and will gladly move aside to give them room to do a good job but you got to give me fair notice.

The problem with this system, as I see it, is that the rules are not clear nor are they consistently followed. Does public works REALLY put the signs up like they are supposed to? Are they going up 24 hours in advanced (the person I spoke to said 12 hours) and are they going in the logical and consistent places that people will look for them?
They allegedly take them down right after the sweeping but I’ve seen them up for several days after the sweeping (or they put them up several days before- e.g. a sign for Wednesday cleaning seen on a pole in the Hill on Saturday.)

However you look at it, the system is broken but the fix is not complicated. Explain the rules. Give us chance to give feedback. Announce the rules. Then transparently follow them. Check back with us every year or so to make sure it’s still working.

posted by: Bob on November 21, 2008 3:22pm

First they start giving cyclists using the sidewalk $75 fines, now they tow cars and put up signs afterward. New Havana is really desperate. If you live in New Havana leave and if you don’t , enter as your own risk.

posted by: what? on November 21, 2008 3:36pm

I live on edwards Street - I watched them put the signs up early Tuesday morning - the whole street was covered. These whiners are lying. I moved my car to Bishop street to park that afternoon- Bishop street was covered from front to back as of
1pm.

posted by: Molly Wheeler on November 21, 2008 3:43pm

What’s discouraging about this situation is that many of us follow the rules, support the city’s activities, and don’t mind moving our cars, but there must to be proper signage. Give us the chance to follow the rules, most of us will take it. People reported seeing signs being posted at 6:30pm on Tuesday evening on some streets, which is 11 hours too late by city law and too late for many people’s practical habits of being home already. There were signs on streets in East Rock, often sparsely posted, but there must be enough (hung higher than parked cars) to see one clearly as you park. Post them on Monday, be economical about work hours spent, and state that Wednesday and Thursday will be cleaning days. Why make it so last minute and inefficient?

posted by: Josh Smith on November 21, 2008 3:57pm

Wow… Using a bicycle and the bus system as your transportation sure looks good today… But no, seriously, I’m sorry for those who had to go through this. I think that if the whole block was shocked to find their cars were gone, something went wrong. The entire population of that street couldn’t have missed the signs. And if they did, they obviously weren’t posted clearly enough.

posted by: anon on November 21, 2008 4:07pm

Why are they trying to destroy the trees?

posted by: TrueBlueCT on November 21, 2008 4:13pm

Why shouldn’t the City be required to give two nights’ notice before towing under these circumstances? It would cut down on a lot of this nonsense.

I’ve also thought Public Works should send a sound truck through the night before sweeping. The emphasis should be on as much notice as possible, and as little towing!

posted by: Kevin Ewing on November 21, 2008 6:48pm

Can’t they use that new robo-calling device we bought not long ago? A phone call a couple days before would be nice. Then if I forget it’s my fault. I’ll grumble but I’ll pay the ticket. And why can’t they put the date on the signs. They can leave them up and take them down the next time they sweep or advise residents that we can take them down 24 hours after the date posted.

Like I said before, tow and ticket away. I also got mad when my street didn’t get swept because of parked cars before we started towing. And Lord knows we can use the money. But you got to give us early, obvious and consistent notice.

posted by: East Rock on November 21, 2008 7:14pm

In Years past the city would tow cars out of the way and then put them back in the spot or across the street after the sweeper had passed. I don’t understand why they insist on taking the cars to the yard now.

posted by: Donna on November 22, 2008 12:28am

The right (even) side of Wooster was swept Friday.

On my end of Wooster the No Parking Friday signs went up some time between 6pm (when I left) and 10pm (when I got back) Thursday. Not enough time. By 9:15am Friday when I left, they’d swept the street AND taken the signs down. If you parked at 5:30 Thursday night and went back out at 9 Friday morning, both your car AND the signs were gone—which explains why some people saw signs on Edwards and others saw no signs and had their cars towed; no one is “lying.”

posted by: Mark on November 22, 2008 7:01am

Remember, the City is US. We the people. The City (read We) need to fund ourselves (read City) so things like draconian random towing for street sweeping and snow emergencies are basically users taxes imposed on the bad users (as opposed to the good users (here defined as the people who know when street sweeping will occur or those that park their car in Florida as soon as the white stuff begins to fall,) designed to encourage good users, or if that is not possible at least to render general benefit out of bad behavior. Parking tickets and towing fees are financial incentives (or fear factors) to be good. And if you are bad (or even if you are just perceived to be bad even if you are not (and remember, at this point it is important to remember ignorance of the law is not a justification for violating it (or a defense of such violation,) your badness ends up benefiting society in the form of helping pay for City (read Our) services and by the way, keep the owner of the Tow Truck Company able to pay his (read his) rent, food, hot water, winter trips to Florida and taxes. So its all for the good bad, no?

posted by: Alphonse Credenza on November 22, 2008 7:50am

I parked my bicycle in the street as everyone knows I should and the next morning it was gone. It had been towed! Next time, I think I’ll simply park it on the sidewalk and take my chances getting a ticket.

posted by: Our Town on November 22, 2008 8:10am

To Uncle N above…after Nov. 1st, there is no regular sweeping schedule. And to add to this, the brain trust at city hall is planning to take down the metal signs for the regularly scheduled sweeps April 1st to Nov. 1st and go to exclusive paper postings to allow for a more ‘flexible’ sweeping schedule.

They do post the sweeping schedule on their website, but I’ve found it hard to read in the format it uses, and then again, not everyone uses the internet. Sounds like what happened here is that the signs were posted, but were vandalized, which is an inherent problem with paper signs. I’ve also noticed in my neighborhood that the signs are in terrible shape to begin with, attached with one staple and dangling, only to be blown away by a hint of wind. The signs are often faded, posted to low, and always posted way too sparsely. My block is about 400 feet long and they only post two or three signs.

posted by: cedarhillresident on November 22, 2008 8:20am

Kevin I agree about rules being consistently followed.
In Cedar Hill we have the metal signs that state 2 times a month sweeping, but they only do it once a month. But untill 2 years ago they where doing it 1 time a year! So people when they finally started sweeping every month they hung signs…so people figured ok now it is finally getting done once a month…one time a freakish turn of events they decide to do it a second time…all car where tagged but not towed…..I to contested it and got reduced. but point was they never did it before and have never did it again! Why because none of us trust them any more and move our cars both days now! This is a messed up way to do things and they should review it. This is the city and parking is a top of the list thing. If they plan on doing things like this it needs to be consistent so people plan appropriately…but then again their would be no money in it if they did!

posted by: jackie on November 22, 2008 11:26am

new haven politics and allied contractors are so f-ed up i would actually vote republican to break the ring of corruption and back scratchingo datta goes on. capisce?

posted by: Jessica on November 22, 2008 2:18pm

I was towed on Bishop St Wednesday morning. I had actually looked for signs and saw NONE where I parked. And, if you do bike or take the bus, you are not prone to double-checking your car every night scouring the streets for signs or remnants of signs, especially when the “real” street sweeping schedule is over. I have suggested to the Alderman to send postcards with sweeping dates block by block that we can post on our fridge. But this will require actually planning ahead. How about one major sweep before Thanksgiving and call it a day?

posted by: robn on November 23, 2008 9:30am

on the subject of thousands of gangrenous rusty staples sticking out of our beloved city trees…heres a crazy idea…instead of staples, why doesn’t the city just put in one nail that they can reuse?

posted by: Tom Harned on November 23, 2008 10:22am

I have to agree with a number of other posters here. There’s simply no way that an entire street of people just happen to miss the signs.

The city should reimburse everyone that it towed without proper warning.

Annoyances like these are the types of things that drive people to the suburbs.

posted by: tina on November 23, 2008 11:39am

Nothing is more serious then Dorothy Johnson of Hamden FIVE times being towed in New Haven for back tax and she lives in Hamden .....

posted by: st.pt. ia on November 23, 2008 1:37pm

i thought we are in a budget crisis? Why is the city spending all this money to clean streets that are basically clean? It’s an affront to common sense. You have 2 street sweepers and 2 dump trucks and two other trucks following - not to mention the trucks that go around before and after to post signs. AND all the shiny new tow trucks. How do you think these tow truck drivers and have all new fancy rigs?

Is all this to clean the leaves? Then a street sweeper is the wrong truck for this anyway. We should be sucking them up and chopping them with one rig.

Also, why don’t we try a warning system here? If someone forgets once it’s get out of jail free, doubt a lot of people would not sharpen up if they saw the damage to their pocket book that might occur if they don’t get moved when they are supposed to.

posted by: Politico on November 23, 2008 7:13pm

Well done Smuts. More revenue for the city. Your a good apprentice. Potential to be next Mayor

posted by: anon on November 23, 2008 8:09pm

Probably this happened because one of the tow companies complained about declining revenues—not surprising given that so many more people are biking, walking and taking the bus to work these days.

posted by: Never Again Having On-Street Parking on November 23, 2008 10:25pm

When the economy tanks, the city turns to towing to help make up its shortfall. Anybody remember the Justice Dept. investigation into the collusion between City Hall and the towing companies back in the mid-90s?

A word of warning to those with on-street parking: watch out this winter. Back in ‘93 I was the victim of the City failing to announce a declared snow emergency so they could maximize the money from towing cars once the snow stopped. I and many of my Wooster Square neighbors dug out our cars, not knowing that a phalanx of tow trucks was waiting around the corner for us to finish clearing our cars and go back inside. The minute the last of us finished, they came by and took every single car away. Not one of us had heard that there was a snow emergency, and we’d all been paying attention to the usual media outlets. I fully expect these shenanigans to recur this winter, as the City is about as cash-strapped now as it was back then.

posted by: Chris Gray on November 23, 2008 11:49pm

I like the one nail idea, Robn, fairly high up on a tree trunk with bright, fairly substantial fabric signs which have solid grommets. Set them from modified Segways.

posted by: Fairhaven Dave on November 24, 2008 12:40am

Tow companies in this town are above the law!

I almost had my car towed while in the Walgreen’s on York Street the other day. I asked the Tony’s Long Wharf tow trucker what the hell he was doing and he said my car had been in the lot too long and was in violation. He said if I didn’t cooperate he would call the police. I told him I would be fine with him calling the police as the security cameras were going to paint a completely different picture. (I had only parked 15 minutes.) I don’t know if I seemed like more trouble than the tow was worth, but he set my car down, immediately grabbed a different car, and tore off at high speed.

posted by: Fedupwithliberals on November 24, 2008 5:25am

ST.PT. 1A

“Why is the city spending all this money to clean streets that are basically clean?”

Because the streets are basically not clean. You live in a busy city which has garbage, broken glass from car breakins and grime accumulating all the time. Absentee landlords do not pick up after their careless tenants around the property. And leaves are not only an unsightly annoyance, but a hazard and safety problem when wet, clogging sewer drains and making it difficult to remove snow at the curbs. You ever had the joy of shoveling frozen leaves? It also breaks down to dust which aggravates asthmatics and blows into your eyes on windy days. It’s also a basic city service which I pay for and expect. You’re complaing of street cleaning twice a month under ideal circumstances? NYC has it every week! You don’t see people whining about it in the papers!

Have some pride. This isn’t a third world country.. yet.

posted by: fly on the wall on November 24, 2008 9:01am

next time just call the Rev Kimber!

posted by: sjbj on November 24, 2008 9:52am

someone asked: “In Years past the city would tow cars out of the way and then put them back in the spot or across the street after the sweeper had passed. I don’t understand why they insist on taking the cars to the yard now.”

Here’s why: when the city did it this way, people didn’t pay the tickets. when you have to pay to get your car back, you pay.

posted by: Ben on November 24, 2008 10:48am

One Nail you say Rob?
Genious!

posted by: Melissa on November 25, 2008 12:58am

They did this in Wooster Square too! Returned home Thursday night at 6pm, no sign. Friday morning, I go outside to see that my (and everyone else’s on the street) car had been towed. Not cool! But good to know there actually is a 24 hour law - the city definitely broke that one.

posted by: robn on November 25, 2008 12:23pm

CHRISGRAY,

Last time I checked, a single nail did have the structural capacity to support a piece of thin cardboard.

posted by: DAFeder on November 25, 2008 12:49pm

This has always seemed pretty easy to me:

1) Tow cars across the street, or across and back.
2) Double the parking fine, which should offset the cost of the tow trucks while keeping the city’s coffers full. Total cost to clueless parkers would be less than the ticket and tow together.
3) Double the number of cars booted/clawed to recoup those outstanding tickets, or hey—just have those cars towed. Let the tow companies charge _those_ drivers the exorbitant $77. I’d rather have people punished for non-payment of tickets than forgetting to move their car for cleaner streets. I’ve paid my share of street-sweeping fines, and I’ve never felt like my city has gotten better because tow companies have gotten fatter.

Done! City services are expensive, but not punitive; tow companies might take a hit, but what are they—oil companies? Insurance companies? How rinky-dink is our town if the towing companies control our government!

David

posted by: Ben on November 26, 2008 12:24pm

The city can do things like posting electronic signs so this does not have to happen. Although, where would they get the lost revenue from?

posted by: Michelle on November 26, 2008 1:54pm

i have lived on Lawrence street for 6 years and am very aware of the street sweeping. however, last Wednesday i was towed from an area where there were no (visible) signs of towing. those signs are fairly large and almost impossible not to see. i payed $77 for the towing charge AND received a $50 ticket.not to mention the fact that Lombard Towing damaged the mirror on the vehicle. these guys don’t care about the damage they cause when carelessly towing vehicles, they only care about getting as many cars as they possibly can as fast as they can during towing hours.

posted by: latichever on November 26, 2008 7:25pm

I’m curious to know how many of those cars have out of state plates and are owned by people who vote in Connecticut. I live in East Rock and see many out of state plates. I’d like to see every tax dodger’s car towed without notice and returned only when the property tax is paid. No more freeloading!

posted by: abg on November 26, 2008 7:32pm

can they please notify the local alderman before they do street sweeping (if it’s not at a time listed on signs) and then the alderman can notify his/her email list?

posted by: Stupid on December 1, 2008 5:34pm

I did not notice the street parking signs up until around 3 p.m. How are we suppose to move the cars if the signs are not up early in the morning? I am paranoid now and keep checking to see if my car is on the right side of the street. There’s got to be a better system to inform residents that street sweeping is occurring instead of some pathetic signs on the trees. We have all this technology accessible at the palm of our hand. Is it possible to receive a text message or something to that effect to alert residents? I am sure we will all move our cars with that sort of notice in the near future.

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