Guessing Brostello voted that reform down!

To put this in context, you have to blow through a speed limit at 30MPH above just to reach a $290 ticket.

>Voting “no” were committee chair Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, Mark Conway, Eric Costello and Sharon Green Middleton

To be clear the bill didn't ban towing it just reduced the fee from 300 to 250 and reduced the drop fee from 150 to 62.50

It also made tow truck drivers searching for cars to tow illegal forcing landlords to actually monitor their own lots and call a company if they need a car towed.

What's so frustrating about the current bullshit is that these truck companies just wait around and tow from lots, usually at night, where cars aren't actually blocking any customers. The example they use in the story is bank of America which is closed when the towing usually happens.

It's all a bullshit scam and the fact that baltimore charges more than any county outside of Anne arundel and more than fucking philly is insane.

Fuck Costello and yitzy for their constant business first residents never mentality. Vote these assholes out.

I have no problem reducing the drop fee and amount. The problem is parking on lots that need to be clear at a certain time. I use a trespass tow company for two small lots that used to be half filled every morning. The amount of condoms, blunt fillings, and needles found there were disgusting. Ever since the towers started removing the cars it has been clean and unoccupied. People start realizing they will be towed and stop parking there. Making the owner call in every time would be a hassle and wouldn't stop people from taking advantage. If you say add a gate, sometimes the lot needs to be open for customer drop offs and such. Just saying.

Yeah, I don't think most people here have a problem with an ethical towing company. But our towing situation is fucking criminal. And you have almost zero recourse if they take your vehicle, legally or otherwise.

My thoughts as well. The fees definitely need to be adjusted. But requiring a call by the owner is v an egregious burden to rectify trespassing.

I get it and I've also seen the damage they do to cars. Using a snatch truck on AWD and just yanking them without any thought. But I need my lot clear and I don't want hookers and junkies using my lot as a place of business. Trespass towers are one level above the 9th ring of hell, but they do serve a purpose.

The last part is the real issue to me. Illegal tows can cost someone a ton of money. We should also do something about the fraudulent parking ticket issue and the lack of reasonable recourse for that.

Why shouldn't the owner have to call every time? You own the lot, you profit from it, is it not your responsibility? We shouldn't allow predatory practices from towing companies just to save people from having to monitor their own property.

Between this and the TIF study bill.. are there any business interests that Costello, Schleifer, and co aren't beholden to?

Kickbacks to city council

Where are these “aggressive practices” taking place?

Baltimore is a city basically guaranteed to be down a lane on every major artery during rush hour because of cars parked in unenforced tow zones.

It wouldn’t be an egregious burden, merely an obligation where there wasn’t one at all. The question is one of balance, and the current system is characterized by a substantial lack thereof.

I literally hire these towers to keep my lot clear. I tell them in no uncertain terms, keep everyone off this lot except the cars I allow. I don't live on my lot. I work from 10-7 and my business is open from 5-7. Does that mean its free parking till I get there?

How is it different from a security guard?

I would pay for a security guard. The towers get paid from the illegal parking.

Just imagine you have a parking pad and people are parked there when you come home from work. Would you rather have someone stop by every couple hours making sure your lot is clear or would you want to call and wait a couple hours for your space to be clear until the tow man comes.

If you own the lot and you're renting me space, you'd be the one to call, not me. You're shifting responsibility.

A security guard doesn't patrol other people's lots looking for people to tow unsolicited.

I don't have sympathy for you. This is your business, you own and profit from this lot. This is your job, same as a landlord maintaining the house they rent. We should not allow predatory towing companies free reign in this city for your convenience. Install a gate.

Well I guess you lost in this round didn’t you buddy. Go cry somewhere else. Trespass towing is the same as it was yesterday.

... That's what the article is about. You're acting like you've made some kind of great comeback by restating the premise of the discussion. I guess you gave up trying to argue you shouldn't have to manage your own property.

I got hit by one of those tow tracks camping outside a new apartment building in South Baltimore. I’m broke as shit so that hurt. But play stupid games, win stupid prizes I guess.

But, like of course parking is going to be more expensive in the city, asphalt is at a higher premium. Philly parking is definitely more expensive than parking in King of Prussia

> Illegal tows can cost someone a ton of money.

Exactly. But the penalty isn't backstopped with just money. When you abscond someone's transportation, you can fuck up their life in a myriad of ways. No idea how this scam just gets renewed over and over again.

Noone is talking about parking. This is about how much a tow truck company can charge for towing a car and about allowing them to only take cash and allowing them to sit on lots waiting to pounce on cars.

Do you pay the towing company anything or is like a bounty system?

Oh my bad, you’re right - brain totally read in the word parking after you said charges, and that wasn’t there.

It’s a maintenance problem you dumass. I hire people to keep my lot clear and they do it. It keeps my privately owned lot clear from people that shouldn’t be there. There are signs, large fucking signs, and people will park if towing isn’t enforced. I the owner of the property gave the towers carte blanche to tow any person I don’t want on my property off that property. I GAVE THEM THE AUTHORITY TO TOW ANYONES ASS I DON’T WANT THERE.

Somyoud rather profit off of shitty aggressive tactics that fuck people's cars up, often legally tow cars and cost people a shit ton of money rather than deal with the issue yourself.

So you admit you are fine to shift the problem elsewhere regardless of consequences.

No, they collect the tow fees. I make nothing off of it except keep my lot clear.

Yeah, I understand perfectly well how it works without you restating it in caps. You're just mad because an attempt was made to make your income a little less passive.

These are private parking lots where private companies enforce private rules, usually aggressively and unethically.

City streets are monitored by city tow trucks where the incentive is much lower to tow.

I don’t tow. Nor do I profit from towing. I just want my lot clear

I can see why people get mad, then. Especially versus parking tickets.

But complaining about predatory tow companies is a bit like complaining that there are sharks in the ocean.

Just because they’re out to get you, doesn’t mean you’re not responsible for where you swim

It's odd how the city government has a razor like ability to hold people accountable for tiny infractions dealing with automobiles but not property owner's who neglect and abandon their buildings, which end up hurting-killing, or otherwise harming the city. Seems to all be driven by something????????$$$$$

This could also be the reason abandoned cars are not attended to. No $$$$$$ in it for the city.

The city council will not remove their own income. Baltimore needs ballot measures to become a thing if they aren't already.

Not to mention the damage towing improperly does to your car. I had to pay a drop fee in Towson to Pollards towing, stopping them from pulling my front wheel drive car by its rear wheels (parked head in). And I saw a Jeep wrangler being dragged at Greenwoods on all 4 wheels which were screeching as the wheels moved across the garage floor. The fine is bad, but the damage the tow trucks can do to your car if they carelessly tow you can total it.

Sometimes I park on Boston st where you have to move your car by 4:00 pm. It’s common that I go out there at like 3:45 and there’s already a tow truck waiting for the top of the hour. It’s bullshit

The city itself is very anti resident but doesn’t hold the same policies fairly and equally.

As much as I’ve enjoyed my time in Baltimore, I also see why people leave this city.

It's also weird and bullshit that your car be towed, for reasons you are unaware of (assuming it's even legit), and then you have to start a journey. Was it stolen? Was it towed? If towed, how to find it?

The city has all the info they need from the license plate to mail or text you the info, but the tow truck company has every incentive for you not to know, as they charge you for every day your car is in their lot.

It's mental that any law enforcement process is not handled by actual city employees. Private business always has other incentives. Towing should be done by the city. Red light/speed cameras should be implemented by the city. Private prisons should never exist. And yeah, there should never be any private police.

Bribery

is this the lot in fed hill?

>Voting “no” were committee chair Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, Mark Conway, Eric Costello and Sharon Green Middleton

I am not sure I even need to know the issue to know that I would be on the other side.

It is money AND power. Business interests have the ability to make life hell for elected officials in the way an individual does not. And so few people caring and voting makes it worse.

Follow the money. I’d like to see what local towers pay these guys every year.

Its in the article. They regularly donate thousands of dollars to Schleifer and Costello.

You gotta pay to play! It’s the America Way! It’s not just Greenwood but all of the Medallion towers. There are a lot of other towing companies involved. A large towing got busted by the City’s Inspector General’s office last year for inflating bills to Baltimore City, paying off shop foremen, and scrapping cars that had not cleared all of the proper channels for seizure. There are some honest and good towers out there but they don’t do this kind of work.

I feel you, that's a legit reason. But towers have shown time and time again that they will not operate in good faith and have no plans on changing.

Permitted to park but half an inch over the line? Towed. Oh yea and they've damaged your car in the process and will make it impossible for you to retrieve it. All while charging an illegal amount.

Unpopular opinion, but this is good. Need to make it harder, not easier, to drive in the city--that's what public transit is for. Also, Baltimore's intersections are badly in need of daylighting. Hope to see more of this.

The towing industry rep said "people love it when we come, I'll show you EMOJIS?!" Between that and council members receiving campaign contributions from towing companies, it's a mess. Of course, we already know that corruption is rampant and blatant

It's 10 miles across the city just within the limits, much further if you count to the inner suburbs that are just as just as dense and basically a continuation. If we HAD a public transportation system that was convenient and safe, you might have a point. But our current system is neither safe nor convenient for either close or crosstown travel. And they already don't make it easy to drive... you've seen the conditions of the roads, the cameras, the other wreckless drivers with fake tags....

no idea why you think the bus isn't convenient or safe

It takes me my coworkers that bus from the other side of the city like 1.5 hours by bus when it's like a 30 minute drive in the am and 45 in the afternoon. And that's just within the city. When I used to work in Parkville, there was a coworker that took the bus from Park Heights, it took her OVER 2 hours way. That's crazy. A few weeks ago somebody told me they think they sat in pee😭😭 If your experience is different I'm glad, but I'm not giving up my car anytime soon, I like to take frequent weekend road trips. And so if it's already purchased and insured.....and the cost of the bus is actually not even cheap anymore... isn't it like $5 now?! My lil Hyundai gets almost 20 miles mpg in the worst Baltimore traffic, so one gallon is several bus passes in essence

Yes, exactly. I would rather not pay or be responsible for another employee and have my lot clean and clear. I don’t see how I’m profiting though. All that is happening is vehicles that shouldn’t be parking there are moved without my intervention. Also, it’s the towers responsibility to move the vehicles safely and carefully. If they don’t, then they should lose their towing license.

I’d actually pay a decent amount of money if the squeegee kids fucked with the tow trucks.

Yes. I have seen that first hand. At a political gathering ,for the community (a rare event), the business faction was elbowing the residents out of the way so they could get to the ear of the councilman.