dimanche, décembre 30, 2007

Sounds Like A Scam To Me

From The Js Online

Hauling it in

Milwaukee's crackdown on towing unregistered vehicles has caught some motorists by surprise, leaving them grumbling about the hassle and expense of retrieving their rides. In addition to clearing the streets, the towing has been a financial boon to the city's contractor and coffers.

Many Milwaukeeans cheered when tow trucks hauled away abandoned cars clogging city streets during December's first major snowstorm.

Those same towing crews, of course, aren't always greeted as heroes - especially amid a record-shattering year for confiscating cars.

Towing of illegally parked cars has nearly tripled since 2000 - to more than 32,000 - fueled in part by a new effort to round up vehicles that are unregistered or not displaying an up-to-date sticker, according to city records and Department of Public Works officials.

...

The rising tide of towing means big business for the city's towing contractor, big money for the city's parking fund and big penalties for errant drivers.

...

Still, nearly 100 cars a day were towed by the city this year.


The story goes on to talk about how the city makes money by towing cars, and how much easier it is to do so because of technology. What I read out of the story is that the City can tow you for just about any reason they deem, and you have to pay to get your car back.

If you for whatever reason get towed, how do you know what happened? They don't leave a note. Tell you what. If my car got towed, I'd call it in stolen, and then I'd press charges against the city for stealing my car. You laugh, but this is theft.

Read the whole story, it's full of little gems like this one here:
The base fee is $95 a tow, plus $20 a day for storage. CHI Towing gets $60.50 a vehicle for towing illegally parked vehicles from the south side and $81.60 on the north side. The company operates round the clock from headquarters across the street from the city's south side lot. It gets less for abandoned cars.
It sounds pretty racist to me. And like most government programs, it targets the poor.

As my Pa tends to say about the gubmint: you have to pay the mob, but at least you get protection.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonyme said...

Gotta love the city of Milwaukee. Do they want us to do anything in the city, or do they prefer we live in the 'burbs and never play downtown?

And I'd be curious to hear why the North side gets a higher fee than the south side or the rest of the city for towing? And what's the definition of the "North side" anyway?

1:24 PM, décembre 30, 2007  
Blogger Dad29 said...

My first guess is the simple one: mileage.

The trucks travel further to go to the North side of the city from their garage on Lincoln Ave.

They probably use I-94 or Wisconsin Avenue as the dividing line.

8:01 PM, décembre 30, 2007  

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