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I've never been towed, either. Or ticketed. For anything. Speeding, parking, nothing. But I've just gotten lucky. It's not that I have never violated speeding or even parking laws - I have. People make mistakes or even may break a parking law intentionally, for one reason or another. And I don't care if people get towed or ticketed. But how anyone can deny that that system described in the article that is being canceled is unfair for the people it greatly impacts, I don't know. Punishment should not extend to one's car being sold because they can't afford the towing fees just because they committed one or more parking violations. That hurts them far more than it helps anyone, including the city since it winds up being more costly in the long run. I mean geez, someone can genuinely misunderstand or miss a parking sign and for their first offense, be towed and be unable to afford to ever recover their car. If that really doesn't seem like a steep punishment for the "crime," idk what to tell you.
Which is probably the real reason the city is stopping the program in those situations - not because they actually care about poor people the system is affecting, but because it costs them more money than it's worth. So rest assured this is about money more than any sort of altruism, I'm sure. Just like a lot of traffic-related laws and the extent of their enforcement are about money in the first place - ticket revenue.
You are probably right, I doubt the city cares THAT much about people not being in a financial position to pay the towing and storage fees, but if they can spin it and make themselves look caring in the process, hey, why not!
It may have something to do with insurance costs to store all those vehicles too, once the city, or a tow company legally 'take possession' of the car, they are responsible for it.
I suspect that the unintended consequence will be that the "homeless" who live in their cars will simply park in some desirable parking spot and never move. The city can go by every three days and give them another parking violation ticket, which the car owner will toss into the trash... or rather onto the ground since that is the most likely homeless behavior.
The parking tickets will pile up forever and the car can never be towed. Home security for those living in cars. They can impede traffic, park in limited time parking areas, wherever they want to park and no one can make them move, not ever.
Abandoned cars will have to be left wherever they were dumped, forever.
Street sweepers and snow plows will no longer be able to do their jobs, because there is no reason for anyone to move their car from one side of the road to another.
And it appears that everyone else, who is not low income, will also get a free pass.
I lived for about a decade in LA, and it's difficult to understand exactly how bad the parking situation is there unless you've spent some time there. Take a look at this sign, which is a little extreme but not necessarily uncommon, and now imagine that you are in a rush and need to park, and have to sit there and make sense of it.
There were plenty of times I carefully read the sign, only to discover that half a block up, there was another sign that had some other asinine exception, and I'd come back to find a $55 ticket on my windshield in 05. Don't pay in 2 weeks, it goes up, then it goes up again, and before you know it, it's a $120 ticket. By comparison, when I was living in Seattle in 08-09, parking tickets were $18. Once, I crashed at a girl's place, checked to make sure I was ok to park, woke up, and my car was gone. Turned out that the street was part of an "anti-gridlock zone," which was noted on a separate sign elsewhere on the block. At 7am on the dot, my car got towed; $120 ticket for blocking the road, $200 for the tow hookup, $33 per day for hold. I had to take a bus to an impound lot downtown to get my car out. I was out $353 for the whole affair and missed three hours of work. Lucky for me, I was able to shoulder the balance, but for a lot of people, that would mean they have to choose between paying rent, or paying for the car or food.
Everybody has an excuse for parking illegally... and it is NEVER their own fault when they get a ticket. Such BS. If you can't be responsible with a car, walk. Stop crying on my shoulder. I've heard enough. You'll get no sympathy from me.
Poor people have no more right to park illegally than do the rest of us.
This right here. Just another incentive to break more laws and reward irresponsible behavior.
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