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Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

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Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

#51

Post by Pulcinella »

klodolph wrote: post #33
quickthrower2 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like a dystopian horror movie

I think I’ve seen this kind of farce happen often enough in sitcoms. Odd Couple “My Strife In Court”, Seinfeld “The Parking Garage”, The Golden Girls “Ladies of the Evening”. People are always getting arrested in sitcoms for dumb reasons.

This also happens in the opening of “Brazil” which is a dystopian nightmare with a small amount of humor and plenty of farce.

“Oops the dystopian government black bagged the wrong person because of a typo. So sorry! Here’s a check for the inconvenience.”

Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

#52

Post by MerelyMortal »

bdhess wrote: post #24
quickthrower2 wrote: post #12

So it sounds like car towing is outsourced to some kind of bounty hunting operation of private companies and no one know their arse from their elbow about where cars are moved. Pretty stupid. It would be easy to fix even with pen, paper and phones. But there should be a signed paper trail about the move. And dropping the cars off in illegal spots, well the fine should go to the “driver” not the car. I guess they are…

If they got “courtesy towed” they were already parked illegally. (Used to live in Philly, it happened to me once.)

I'm inclined to believe the article which lists other criteria that are out of the control of the driver for reasons of a courtesy tow.

Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

#53

Post by pcl »

sokoloff wrote: post #22
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn’t check the license and registration of the vehicle?

For a reported stolen car/felony stop, it seems pretty reasonable that they'd handcuff the driver before checking the driver's license and discovering it matches the registration.

Years ago, I was pulled over while driving a rental car that had been reported stolen by an earlier renter a few weeks prior. I'm certainly glad that the officers in Atlanta approached the situation professionally and without any cuffs involved.

Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

#56

Post by jffry »

lolinder wrote: post #30

> That’s the Philly euphemism for what is formally known as “relocation towing” — when the police department, Philadelphia Parking Authority, or a private towing company moves vehicles from legal parking spots for special events, construction or emergencies. I can see needing to move a vehicle in an emergency, but for special events and construction this shouldn't be needed in most cases. The city knows months in adv…

Maybe the spaces are posted as reserved, and "relocation towing" is what happens if you're still parked there at the reserved time.

In theory if the city had its act together and had a way to let you know where your car had been put (and a process to ensure it's not placed somewhere you'll get ticketed), this is a much fairer option than carting cars off to an impound lot, which are privately run and generally notoriously bad in terms of hours / fees / ease of retrieving your car.

Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

#57

Post by johndoughy »

mbil wrote: post #36

Ah yes, reminded me of when my motorcycle was parked near 7th and South St. There was construction I guess, and my motorcycle was apparently courtesy lifted to the sidewalk. I returned from vacation to ~$700 of tickets for the bike being on the sidewalk.

Did you end up paying the tickets or fighting it?

Reminds me of when my motorcycle was towed from my apartment complex. It was held by a private towing company, but for some reason the city suspected the bike was stolen, so the tow lot (allegedly) couldn't release it until the city completed their 'investigation'. Meanwhile I was on the hook for every day that it sat in the tow yard (not to mention the rental car to get to work), but powerless to get it out. Eventually the city cleared it and I owed like 2k. I desperately wish I fought it but for some reason I just paid it...

Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

#58

Post by gshulegaard »

lolinder wrote: post #30

> That’s the Philly euphemism for what is formally known as “relocation towing” — when the police department, Philadelphia Parking Authority, or a private towing company moves vehicles from legal parking spots for special events, construction or emergencies. I can see needing to move a vehicle in an emergency, but for special events and construction this shouldn't be needed in most cases. The city knows months in adv…

As someone relatively new to Philly, I am not at all surprised by the need for relocation towing. In the immediate Philadelphia metro area, but outside center city parking is extremely sparse. It's not uncommon for me to help squeeze neighbors into barely large enough parallel parking spots (by waving them in) at midnight. Some of these folks live more than 6 blocks away and purportedly were looking for parking after getting off work for an hour or longer.

Philadelphia is also the first place I have lived where parking in the center median of major thoroughfares is normal:

https://www.google.com/search?q=philadelphia+center+median+p...

Speaking of, I live a block off South Broad Street (most of the images in the link) and not too long ago there was a marathon that required clearing of that street of all parked cars for its entire length. It _was_ well communicated, well in advance but you can imagine that if parking is tight when the street side parking _and_ the center median is chalk full of cars, relocating is difficult. I don't know if any cars were relocation towed, but I know the night before the event I still saw some cars parked on Broad.

I still think there are communications issues, the city should have a way for owners to find their car. But I also think it's a bit more complex than your first take. Communication is hard and at the scale of Philadelphia I am not too surprised that there are cases where things can go awry between all the various bureaucracies you have to interact with in something like this. I also think it's pretty reasonable that the lawsuit is looking to force improvements, not do away with the system.

Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

#59

Post by ryukafalz »

Spooky23 wrote: post #10

I feel this validates my “no Philly” policy. I grew up in NYC, and have a certain immunity to deal with aloof, hostile or otherwise obnoxious city officials. I’ve been to Philly on business and pleasure a few times and… forget it, it’s a whole other level. One wedding, literally 30% of the guest had a ticket, tow or other drama. Life is too short. Philly makes Jersey look good.

PPA is somehow simultaneously notorious for overzealously ticketing and for completely ignoring cars parked in crosswalks, bike lanes, sidewalks, etc. It’s the most bizarrely inconsistent government agency.

Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues

#60

Post by mbil »

johndoughy wrote: post #57
mbil wrote: post #36

Ah yes, reminded me of when my motorcycle was parked near 7th and South St. There was construction I guess, and my motorcycle was apparently courtesy lifted to the sidewalk. I returned from vacation to ~$700 of tickets for the bike being on the sidewalk.

Did you end up paying the tickets or fighting it? Reminds me of when my motorcycle was towed from my apartment complex. It was held by a private towing company, but for some reason the city suspected the bike was stolen, so the tow lot (allegedly) couldn't release it until the city completed their 'investigation'. Meanwhile I was on the hook for every day that it sat in the tow yard (not to mention the rental car to…

I fought it which basically entailed me going to some city government building and showing the guy I was out of town for some of the days and so wasn’t able to keep an eye on my bike. He essentially told me to pound sand and so I ended up paying it. The absurdity tempered the fury.
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