David Brauer wrote:
Again, all I seek is a reasonable limit on private towing fees; reasonable
includes building in the cost of city rules.
But c'mon - Cathy Leighton's $300 fee is shocking! As Jan said, I hope
councilmembers are listening.
At the very least, I would STRONGLY advocate that any
My son got a ticket near his school for parking "within 5 feet of an alley." He wasn't blocking the alley but was within 3 feet of it. He just got his license so I looked up parking regulations in his Minnesota drivers manual and there was nothing there regarding 5 feet. When we went down to the
Public works replaced a curb cut on Spruce Place and the way they put down
the concrete, they cut 4-6 ft from what was there before. The ordinance
is that you can't park 5 ft. from the radius of the curb cut. The city
action effectively killed a parking space in a critical parking
neighborhood.
Bill Cullen writes:
So, if you want to open a competing tow truck operation, you must: find a
large lot zoned correctly IN MPLS, own or operate it, and provide 24
hour, on-duty storage. Any idea how much that would cost? Any idea
where
there is a lot big enough to justify 24 hour a day
When I visited Montreal sometime the 1970's I parked my car in the wrong
place during a snow storm. When I went to look for it the next day, it
wasn't where I parked it. I got really anxious and started looking up and
down the street. Some good soul stopped me, told me to calm down and to
go
I'm sorry everyone, Andy's absolutely right. One anecdote about one towing
company acting in a manner that could be deemed predatory certainly proves
that all towing companies working in the city are evil, underhanded thugs
waging war on students and the working poor and that the city of
Ok, I still don't understand what is wrong with this...
From: Cathy Leighton [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 22:42:19 -0600
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Mpls] Usury Laws - Tow Charges
Just thought I'd add a very recent example.
My oldest son (22 years old), didn't want to
Clarification:
When I wrote, advocating city-imposed usury limits on private-lot towing
charges:
I know the city makes mucho dinero from this, but - having not been towed
for awhile, I don't know how much this limit would cut into their haul.
Still, a reasonable limit is the right thing to
Vicky writes:
If your friend who was towed knew anything about city finance, he/she
would
be much angrier about subsidizing the rent for Saks 5th Avenue, Neiman
Marcus, Target, etc. Those charges amount to a lot more than $200, year
after year, but he/she doesn't know he/she is getting
David Brauer brings up the issue of car towing in the city of Minneapolis.
I think that this can be looked at as an issue of livability. The city
used to tow cars itself, but sometime in the 1980's started contracting
out this function to private towing companies. Whenever you make
someone's
I disagree with the city capping tow charges, at least not without a lot
more information on the subject. Much like landlords, towing companies are
easily stereotyped as the scourge of the city, yet they provide a valuable
service.
It's easy to say that $200 to get your car back is excessive, but
Lets keep budget and spending and taxing decisions in the hands of the
City Council where they belong. The Charter is intended as a form of
governance document, not a refuge from making tough political choices.
Unfortunately, amending the charter has been used in the past to
circumvent the City
I'm not sure about capping private towing companies. I do, however, know how I feel
about towing done by the city: it's a regressive tax. Those of limited means tend not
to have off-street parking, and are therefore towed at a higher rate. Like all
regressive taxes (property, sales,
This has gotten somewhat far away from the original posting, but it is time
to interject a few facts from the 2002 Mpls budget.
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/city-budget/2002adopted/Section3.pdf
2002 Fire and Police expenditures: $139.0 million
2002 Total expenditures: $1,244.8 million
2002
I think David Brauer raises a very valid issue here. I just called a
few towing companies and here's what I found.
If Cedar Towing tows your car from a private lot for lack of payment the
fee they gave me over the phone is $225.00
I called three other companies and said my car had broken down
The City gets a major rake-off. Parking permits and towing deals are among
the most corrupt arrangements any city makes with what are essentially the
scum of private enterprise - lot owners and towing companies. Parking in
Minneapolis goes beyond the pale, however. The city long ago decided that
The difference is that Cedar Towing is going to have to store the vehicle
until the owner discovers it's missing and shows up to bail it out.
So Cedar Towing has additional expenses for insurance, security, probably
property taxes, etc. that none of the other towing companies have because
I rest my case, Mr. Snyder.
Ms. Leighton, it's all over Minneapolis, but the meat hooks are out for
students at the U in spades. Tell you son he's not alone, for all the
comfort that brings.
Andy Driscoll
Saint Paul
From: Cathy Leighton [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003
Mark Snyder wrote
The difference is that Cedar Towing is going to have to store the vehicle
until the owner discovers it's missing and shows up to bail it out.
So Cedar Towing has additional expenses for insurance, security, probably
property taxes, etc. that none of the other towing
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