Thomas Breen Photo
“Crown” Auto’s new HQ.
Grand-Crown employee boots BMW.
With state law enforcement on their case, the proprietors of “Crown Auto Center” were at risk of losing a lucrative monopoly they’ve held for a decade: a “booting” and towing contract from city government.
Then City Hall itself spent months helping them hold on.
The proprietors — Albert J. “Jeff” Hansen and Bernadette Juliano — have had that contract since 2009. It allows them, and no other towing companies in town, to clamp cars with a metal “boot” if their owners owe back taxes or unpaid parking fees, under the city’s “Platehunter” program.
They still have the contract now, at a new location on Grand Avenue.
To keep it, Hansen and Juliano over the past four months have had to maneuver past obstacles. The couple has navigated a run-in with state motor vehicle cops (yes, they exist), beat back criminal charges in court, and reached a new after-the-fact legal agreement to allow them to keep prowling the streets for cars to immobilize with steel contraptions, then haul to a towing yard.
At a time when officials are revisiting the city’s relationship with its towing companies, the Crown Auto saga offers a peek into the workings of this distinctive and often controversial type of government-funded business.
Here’s how Hansen and Juliano held on.
Lucrative Monopoly
Paul Bass Photo
Recently booted car stored in Grand Auto’s lot.
Under the booting and towing contract, Hansen’s and Juliano’s Crown Auto Center drivers use a scanner to determine if license plates on cars match those in a city database of tax and parking scofflaws.
If a vehicle owner has at least $100 in delinquent motor vehicle taxes or at least $200 in delinquent parking ticket fees, the drivers attach a metal “boot” and affix a sticker to the driver side window giving owners 48 hours to pay the back bills. After 48 hours, the towers can bring the cars to a lot, where the owners must pay back whatever they owed, plus an $89 tow fee, a $55 boot fee and, sometimes, a $50 administrative fee for unpaid taxes. If a vehicle is unclaimed for 30 days, Crown Auto can auction it off or sell it for scrap.
The contract specifically says that towers should back off when dealing with drivers. “Crown Auto Center LLC will comply with the City’s policy being to avoid confrontation with irate taxpayers, to not boot a vehicle where a physical confrontation may result,” the contract reads.
In New Haven, those confrontations with towers are almost inevitable. People dislike having their cars booted up and hauled off. Sometimes drivers don’t understand the rules or are just unreasonable.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
2012 community protest against Crown Auto.
Other times, it’s the company’s fault — and despite the contract language, physical confrontations have resulted with Crown Auto. Click here to read about one such case, which led to the arrest of a Crown towing employee who stole citizens’ money. A fight and public protest occurred at Crown in 2012 after an employee allegedly took cash from towed customers, then never recorded the bill as paid, requiring the owner to pay again to get her car.
But Crown Auto kept the contract, year after year.
From the start, its exclusive hold on the contract riled other towing companies in town. The city decided to stick with one vendor rather than spread the work around, the way it does with the police department’s rotating list of 10 companies that can remove cars in no-parking zones. The original stated reason, offered by then-city Controller Mark Pietrosimone: Having just one vendor is more efficient, producing a “streamlined” process. The updated official version: The Crown lot is centrally located downtown, so it’s easier for vehicle owners to get to. (A competing bidder for the contract claims he had secured a centrally located lot as well for the contract.)
In 2013, then-Yale law student Brian Sweeney wrote a 64-page paper about Crown’s monopoly contract with the city. He argued that the monopoly arrangement paved the way for corruption and explored alternatives, like making towing the government’s job. (Click here to read the paper, which is entitled, “A Critical Look at New Haven’s Tax-and-Tow Program: Early Benefits and Long-Term Dangers of Monopoly Service Provision in Municipal Contracting.”)
Last Oct. 6, the city granted Crown Auto its latest license. Hansen signed it for Crown Auto. Then-Mayor Toni Harp signed it. The city’s website, meanwhile, listed Bernadette Juliano as the Crown Auto Center’s primary contact. The contract was back-dated to take effect the previous July 1.
Lucrative Sale
Paul Bass Photo
Ghost lot: Former Crown Auto.
Five days after signing the contract, Hansen and Juliano risked losing it. Because Hansen sold the Crown Street lot where the company stored the towed cars. Under state law, a towing company needs a lot to stow cars in order to keep the state license needed to tow vehicles for money.
But Hansen had good reason to sell: The property had rocketed in value.
In fact, he would have had reason to kick himself the rest of his life if he didn’t sell.
So on Oct. 11 Hansen’s limited-liability corporation sold the three contiguous Crown Street pieces of property for $2.9 million, far more then their most recent combined appraisal of $560,000. Hansen had bought those properties for just $394,000 between 1996 and 2004 — back when, unlike now, people weren’t snapping up downtown properties to build on. The city’s current building boom had made the properties almost impossible not to unload to a developer.
A day before the deeds changed hands — and less than a week after he’d gotten the contract by touting his central downtown location — Hansen wrote to the city seeking permission to subcontract the contract to another business he and Juliano run, a used-car dealership at 529 Grand Ave. called Grand Auto Center.
But that caused another problem: Hansen and Juliano did not have permission to store towed cars through the 529 Grand business.
Way back in October 2012, Hansen and Juliano had won permission from the City Plan Commission to set up a “limited towing” operation at the site. But that permission included storing cars connected only to purchases and sales — and not for commercial towing. (The City Plan certificate listed Hansen as owner of the property and Juliano as representative of the business.)
Hansen and Juliano needed zoning approval to store the towed cars there. They didn’t have it.
Pike International, which bought the Crown Street property, agreed to let Hansen continue to lease it until the new owners were prepared to build on it, according to Pike principal Shmully Hecht. But since the sale, the lot has sat empty.
So Crown, now known as Grand, dropped off the police department’s rotating list of 10 towers authorized to haul away illegally parked cars.
But the lucrative monopoly booting contract, which is overseen by the city tax collector’s, office remained in force.
Hansen and Juliano’s company kept booting and towing cars of tax and ticket scofflaws, without apparent state permission but with the acquiescence of city government’s Tax Collector’s Office.
Grand, née Crown, was apparently bringing those cars somewhere.
Where?
The state Department of Motor Vehicles, acting on a tip, came to New Haven to find out.
Showdown On East Street
Christopher Peak Photo
New HQ: Grand Auto.
DMV Inspector Todd Maikshilo got the tip.
On Oct. 28, Maikshilo paid a visit to Grand Auto. He was accompanied by fellow DMV Inspector Matthew Zipoli and by New Haven cop Brian Pazsak, the department’s towing officer. Pazsak had learned that Hansen and Juliano were keeping the booted and towed vehicles in a padlocked surface lot at 409 East St., around the corner from its Grand Avenue shop, according to an incident report Maikshilo later wrote.
People looking for cars or looking to contact Crown Auto were being directed to Grand Auto — even though the city’s website still listed the outdated Crown Street location.
Here’s what happened during the visit, according to Maikshilo’s report:
The three officers arrived at Grand Auto and encountered a “white male who initially refused to identify himself.”
Do you have anything to do with Grand Auto? Maikshilo asked.
“No, I just hang around and help out,” replied the man, who displayed a “hostile and argumentative” “demeanor” with Pazsak, according to the report.
Pazsak informed the DMV officers that this man was actually Hansen, the Crown Auto licensee. Hansen fessed up, showed his Florida driver’s license. But he kept insisting “that he had no connection with the Grand Auto facility, that he just ‘hung around’ there. He was confrontational with the officers as to why they were inspecting the Grand Auto facility.”
Maikshilo “did observe that a Crown Auto tow truck was parked inside the bay area of the business.” He asked Hansen why.
“It’s just a tow truck parked there, that’s all,” Hansen responded. The officers warned Hansen not to “interfere with our investigation” as he “continued to be confrontational” and “hostile.”
Bernadette Juliano showed up. She identified herself as Hansen’s wife. Hansen, in turn, “denied this, and stated that she is only his girlfriend.”
Juliano consented to an inspection of the premises, during which Hansen was again warned to stop interfering as he “became very defensive and argumentative” about the towing that was occurring.
Eventually Hansen “acknowledged” that Grand Auto was not authorized to tow cars on the city tax scofflaw list. But then he added, “That’s a gray area.”
Maikshilo asked permission to inspect the Crown Auto lot, which Hansen told him was being renovated. Hansen “refused my request,” a violation of Connecticut General Statutes 14 – 64(3) that opens the towers’ records to state inspectors, according to Maikshilo’s report.
Finally, according to the report, Hansen admitted “he was storing his tax tows, non consensual police tows and trespass tows” at the 409 East St. lot. Maikshilo asked why he was doing that. “He replied that his Crown Street address was going to be paved and he decided to store the vehicles at this unlicensed lot location,” Maikshilo wrote.
Paul Bass Photo
Padlocked, concealed entrance to 409 East lot.
The group walked around the corner into the lot, where the inspectors found 58 motor vehicles. Hansen “acknowledged that this storage lot was not part of his licensed location on Crown Street nor was it sanctioned by either the City of New Haven or the CT DMV Dealer Licensing Unit as an off site parking area for vehicles under the care of his licensee.”
The DMV inspector charged Hansen with illegally operating an unlicensed dismantler’s facility and violating DMV dealer and mechanic regulations. He noted that Juliano is listed as a Crown Auto Center co-member with the DMV; Hansen “was adamant that this was a mistake,” and Maikshilo did not charge her.
Maikshilo subsequently discovered that Hansen was using the Grand Avenue business address “to conduct his own Crown Auto business with the CT DMV and the City of New Haven,” another violation of state law. Maikshilo gave Hansen “five days to vacate” all the cars in the East Street lot.
The Independent tried to get Hansen’s and Juliano’s side of the story. They were not present during multiple visits to the Grand Avenue location; the Crown Street lot was empty. An employee at Grand Auto, Bernadette Volikas (former Crown manager), said the couple had received a business card left by a reporter with a message asking they call.
Reached Monday on his cell phone, Hansen was asked about the allegations and about his plans.
“That’s personal business. I don’t need it in the newspapers,” he responded. He said he had to get off the phone to take another call. He promised to call back. He never did, and he did not answer subsequent calls.
Cash Keeps Flowing
Paul Bass Photo
Some of the dozens of vehicles, including booted and towed cars, stored behind the gate.
Despite the state directive and the charges then pending in Superior Court, Grand Auto kept booting and towing cars under the city contract with now-closed Crown Auto. Notices left on booted cars directed vehicle owners to make payments either at the city tax office — or at Grand Auto Center at 529 Grand Ave., contrary to the directions on the city’s website.
While the police department no longer did business with Hansen and Juliano’s towing operation, the tax collector’s office — and City Hall in general — were helping them keep it going.
By Jan. 8, despite the 2012 zoning prohibition on commercial towing and storage at Grand Auto, the pair obtained a letter of zoning compliance for commercial storage from the City Plan Department. City Deputy Zoning Director Jenna Montesano issued the letter. She did not return multiple requests for comment for this story. Mayoral spokesman Gage Frank said the letter was issued, and no hearings held, because storage of cars is allowed as of right under the city code at the 409 East St. lot.
With that letter in hand, Hansen was able to return to court and, on Jan. 13, have the criminal case against him nolled.
Meanwhile, Elicker administration lawyers drew up an amendment to the contract between Crown Auto and the tax collector’s office. The amendment substitutes “Grand Auto Center LLC” for “Albert J. Hansen d/b/a Crown Auto Center LLC” as the contractor. Hansen, Juliano, and Mayor Justin Elicker signed the agreement on Jan. 15.
Tax Collector Maurine Villani declined to discuss her office’s dealing with Crown and Grand. She directed questions to the mayor’s office.
“The ultimate goal is to get people to pay their taxes. We want it to be done legally, fairly and appropriately. We’re not in the business of helping people run illegal operations or have schemes where they take advantage of the city and the taxpayers,” Mayor Elicker said.
Between the time Crown closed up shop and the zoning compliance letter was issued, while the state ordered Hansen and Juliano to cease their towing and storage activities, Crown/Grand booted 1,269 vehicles in town and towed 160 of them at $89 a pop, plus storage fees. The company also had the right to sell unclaimed vehicles or sell them for parts.
Frank said the city continues to maintain an exclusive contract with Crown/Grand because only one other company bid, and that competing bidder doesn’t have a centrally located lot where people can retrieve their vehicles. Also, the owner of that competing bidder, Tony Juliano of Tony’s Long Wharf, owed property taxes on his own company’s vehicles, according to Frank. (Tony Juliano told the Independent that his company had secured a lot on Grand Avenue for the towing, and that his company and the city “go back and forth” on bills owed to each other.)
Meanwhile, the city needs the revenue it gets from collecting unpaid parking tickets and back taxes. Frank said the tax/ticket program generally brings in between $1.5 and $1.8 million to the city.
Mayor Elicker said that in the broader picture, New Haven needs to find a way to capture more of the millions of dollars in unpaid parking tickets and fines that go uncollected each year. He said his team has been discussing that challenge during deliberations over the coming fiscal year budget. (Click here for a 2019 story by the New Haven Register’s Ed Stannard about top scofflaws.)
“You can understand the importance of having some ability to track down people who don’t pay tickets or taxing. It’s not fair for the people who are paying,” Elicker said.
The original contract signed in October gives the city the right to automatically renew it with Hansen and Juliano’s company, without considering other companies, annually for four more years. Elicker’s amendment removed that provision. So the booting/towing contract with Crown/Grand expires on June 30. At that point the administration plans to revisit the arrangement.
Showdown on George Street
Paul Bass Photo
Pooyan Khodadoust with his post-booted BMW.
For now, the booting and towing continue apace — along with the hot tempers that flare on both sides of the transactions.
One of Juliano’s and Hansen’s towers, named Louis, encountered that ire when he went to tow a 2018 six-shift BMW M3 Competition with Massachusetts license plates around 11 a.m. on Jan. 29.
The car was parked on George Street near York. The car’s owner, Pooyan Khodadoust of Guilford, came out of 100 York St., where he said he owns several units, to find Louis applying the boot.
Khodadoust later claimed he didn’t realize Louis worked for a towing company. “He looked like he was trying to steal my rims. He was not dressed in any official clothing,” he said.
So Khodadoust, who lives in Guilford, got inside the car and tried to move it. It didn’t move.
He came back out. He saw the boot.
It was now wedged into the car’s wheel well.
Louis, interrupted in action.
He turned on his phone camera to the video setting. You can watch the subsequent encounter in that video, above.
“I’ll make your company pay for this,” Khodadoust said as Louis applied the boot.
“You drove on the boot. It’s illegal,” Louis responded. “You did some illegal shit.”
“I did some illegal shit. You’re right. You’re right,” Khodadoust, growing heated, responded. “I’m sure you’ve never done illegal shit in your life. That’s why you’re a fucking tow truck driver.”
Khadadoust, who said he owed the city $475 in unpaid tickets and fines, said he had to pay another $300 for the boot and tow. He accuses Louis of wrecking his car with the way he booted the car— and causing over $10,000 in damage. He disagreed with Louis’s claim that he in fact caused the damage by trying to drive the BMW with the boot partially on.
The Independent asked him to demonstrate the damage and tally the needed repairs. Khadadoust did; you can watch that in the above video.
He said he has contacted his insurance company, which he claimed is preparing to sue Grand Auto to recover the cost of repair.
More broadly, Khadadoust argued that the city should take towing in-house rather than hire outside towing companies to do that job.
Either way, it’s not work for the timid.
Christopher Peak and Thomas Breen contributed reporting.
Only business I've ever dealt with that only accepts exact change, down to the penny.