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Exactly how hard is it not to get a parking ticket? To keep registration up to date? I would think a poor person would be even more on top of it given they would not want to owe the money.
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"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 24 days ago)
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I agree with this bill.
Having a vehicle towed, if you're poor, basically steals your vehicle from you.
It's like, $175 plus to get it out of impound the first day, and the fine escalates very very quickly until the fine is more than the vehicle value, and at that point, the tow yard owns the vehicle.
It's insane. I first learned this reading Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado. Towing companies who win the government contract can basically steal your car, and if you're in poverty, it's theirs to keep.
One of my son's cars was towed - parked illegally - and although it was irritating to go WAY out of town to redeem it from the tow lot the next day (for about $325) we did it. It was just an irritation.
What about people who can't do that? Now, that private tow company owns their vehicle.
How lucrative is THAT??
Insane. I really would like to see a STOP to his theft.
For those who don't understand this injustice, I highly recommend you read her book.
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 24 days ago)
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Reputation: 50774
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxus
Exactly how hard is it not to get a parking ticket? To keep registration up to date? I would think a poor person would be even more on top of it given they would not want to owe the money.
Sometimes you don't notice that you're parking in a violation area, or you have driven around and around and can't find a legal place to park so you just park in violation so you can make it to your restaurant job shift so you won't be fired.
Sometimes, you don't have registration money, and your car can't pass inspection anyway if you're in poverty and so you just try to fly under the radar.
The more the upper/middle upper classes refuses to understand and support the struggles of the under class, the more the underclass will suffer injustices like having their cars stolen from them.
YES, boxus, I get it. We who have money can certainly afford to not park illegally, and can afford to pay parking tickets, we are often oblivious to the struggles of the less wealthy.
Thank God for this attempt to keep their cars from being stolen by private business towing yards.
Having a vehicle towed, if you're poor, basically steals your vehicle from you.
It's like, $175 plus to get it out of impound the first day, and the fine escalates very very quickly until the fine is more than the vehicle value, and at that point, the tow yard owns the vehicle.
It's insane. I first learned this reading Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado. Towing companies who win the government contract can basically steal your car, and if you're in poverty, it's theirs to keep.
One of my son's cars was towed - parked illegally - and although it was irritating to go WAY out of town to redeem it from the tow lot the next day (for about $325) we did it. It was just an irritation.
What about people who can't do that? Now, that private tow company owns their vehicle.
How lucrative is THAT??
Insane. I really would like to see a STOP to his theft.
For those who don't understand this injustice, I highly recommend you read her book.
I agree.
Kind of like how cash bail systems adversely affect the poor, who often can't afford to post bail for even the most minor crimes and stay in jail awaiting trial, losing their jobs, possibly losing custody of their kids, and missing out on time with their families. It also causes more people to plead guilty, perhaps to crimes they didn't commit (rather rare) or have a good chance at fighting at trial. They plead guilty so they can get out sooner.
San Francisco tows about 42,000 vehicles annually and spends $25 million operating a towing program, according to the report. Furthermore, 90 percent of all vehicles towed are returned to the owners. However, vehicles towed for ‘poverty-related’ reasons, which only make up 10 percent of all towed vehicles, are four times as likely to end up being sold by the City through a lien sale.
Which, according to the report, means everyone is losing money.
Data shows that the average cost of towing, storing and selling a vehicle through an auction is $2,594. However according to the report, the average value of a car sold through these auctions covers less than a third of the total cost of all the fees at an average auction sale price of $700.
State laws prioritize contracted towing companies when it comes to recovering their tow and storage fees, and do not guarantee that public agencies receive any portion of the revenue from auction sales, making recovery of costs for cities unlikely, according to the report.
“Poverty-related tows do not work for anyone. Low income people lose, tow yards lose, local governments lose,” said Chiu.
Furthermore, tows that result in car auction sales hurt the car owner’s ability to pay the debt by taking away their car, he said.
I've always thought it would make more sense to scale monetary fines with income. Decide how many hours of work each offense is worth, and fine accordingly.
So, parking fines are set at (spitballing) two hours pay.
The billionaire hedge fund dude pays $1,000,000* for each violation, while the minimum wage folks pay $30.00.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a far, far right libertarian -- but I think debts to society should be matched with your rewards from society.
California should just become their own communist country. There is no aspect of peoples lives that the govt isn't regulating. Its actually getting kind of insane.
They actually don't tow cars the way they used to where I am---now, for most unpaid tickets, they boot them. No impound fees, less time wasted, etc.
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