Towing for 48 hours, does it actually happen?

[phoenixy.livejournal.com]

So I know about the 48 hour rule, but the 311 messages lately were the first I've heard that you can be towed for it.

So I was wondering--does this ACTUALLY happen to people? With no warning? I need to leave my car for 60 hours (plus another 12 hours on a holiday) and I'm okay with the possibility of a ticket, but towing--is something they just hypothetically can do, or has this actually happened to anyone who wasn't using the street as super long-term storage?

Comments

[jadelennox]

I know it used to happen 3,4 years ago.

[daft.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on your neighborhood. I've left my car in the same spot for almost two weeks (literally only moving it on street cleaning days) during the summer, and have never had a problem. However our parking situation is such that the spot I usually occupy isn't really in demand by anyone else.
Also my landlord is a cop, so it's entirely possible that I am enjoying residual cop-benefits and have an unrealistic experience.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

call the parking office and ask to talk to a human being. they may not be able to give you a useful answer (in which case i suggest leaving a key with a friend and asking them to move your car once), or they might be able to at least offer a specific exemption for your vacation. (if i were you i'd ask for four days, in case you don't feel like moving your car right on hour 60, or have a flight delay or something.)

[phoenixy.livejournal.com]

I did call the parking office and didn't get a useful answer. I would leave a key with a friend but all my friends who live nearby are going on vacation too--plus I don't know yet whether it's supposed to snow and I'd feel rather bad about a task that turned into "hey, could you move my car, oh, and also dig it out of these 6 inches of snow, thanks."

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

you might call back and ask to speak to a different human. my only tuppence is that i've gotten a ticket for this once, but never been towed.

[cold-type.livejournal.com]

I think it's unlikely that you would get towed after only a few days. But if you are really worried about it - and don't get a satisfactory answer -- you might also consider leaving your car in the Alewife T parking lot for a few days for $5/day.

[elbren]

You could also park it at Alewife for $7 / day.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Or at Wellington for 5.

[olszowka.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine was towed for this 2 years ago. He had out of state plates which makes the enforcement people more touchy. He brushed off his car, but did not actually dig it out and move it.

[taranwan.livejournal.com]

When my wife and I went on our honeymoon a year ago, I emailed the parking director and asked him if there's any sort of permit or exemption that allows for 48 plus hour parking. He said no, and the safest thing to avoid possible towing is to find parking off-street (a neighbor's driveway or have a friend move your car every so often. We ended up leaving our car at my parent's place in Haverhill.

I think whether or not your car is towed is going to be a matter of luck, if any resident complains about a car looking like it's been abandoned (a significant reason for the no more than 48 hour parking rule in the first place), how frequently the parking enforcement people come by your street, and how much available parking is around your neighborhood.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

A major pet peeve of mine. This law is so fucking asinine, yet the city is allowed to get away with it. Fuck you- I pay excise taxes on my car, I've lived here for 7 years, and it is beyond aggravating that I can't leave my car in front of my lawful residence without worrying that the city will tow it because they're too goddamn lazy to take 5 seconds to run my plate and find out that the car is registered to the house it's parked in front of.

No, instead I have to drive my car out to the hinterlands, park it there, and then take a bus back into the city.

It's as stupid and money-grubbing as those "no overnight parking" regs in surrounding communities. It's just an excuse for the tow companies and the city to rake in money and has ZERO to do with safety or keeping the streets clear of abandoned vehicles.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Have you contacted your alderman and asked him or her to see about changing the law?

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

We- this community- had this debate a number of times over the years- there's not enough support to overturn it. Others have contacted their alderman. I've emailed mine. We've even had Tom Champion poke his head in on it last year. Yet the law still stands.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Sure, when you use your usual icon I can recognize you and remember that you've talked about this here before :)

Sorry for being quick to assume you were just complaining without acting.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I like to keep people on their toes.....

[cos]

No overnight parking rules have a very valuable purpose: They ensure that all residents who have a car get offstreet parking they can use regularly, and residents who don't want to / can't afford that just don't keep a car (so fewer people have cars), and as an effect of that, on-street parking is plentiful and available during the day for people going to stores, visiting friends, in from a different town, etc.

You can *always* find a parking spot in Brookline, even in places like Coolidge Corner, without much searching.

48 hour rules, on the other hand, I agree are crazy. It should at least be a 1-week rule, and would serve exactly the same purpose but with much less disruption and worry for residents.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

*blink*

you've got to be kidding. brookline is chock-a-block with cars. i wouldn't dream of driving out that way and expecting to find anywhere to park...

[cos]

... and yet. I drive there frequently (my parents live there, one of my best friends lives there, the Coolidge is one of my favorite places, ...) and maybe have to actually search for parking about once a year. I also use Brookline as a source of easy parking when I go to shows at the Paradise, or go to Planned Parenthood, or pretty much anything on Comm Ave - just dive a block or two south into Brookline and there's plenty of free parking available.

[frederic.livejournal.com]

When I was taking the subway to work, I got a sign on my car that they were going to tow it. It had gotten a 48 hr ticket and another 2+ days had passed. They don't tow immediately. Luckily, I got away with a $5 fine (2001?).

[lizzyclean.livejournal.com]

Just for some perspective, last summer there was a car parked near me in Teele Square that was left abandonded for months. Leaves and trash were piled up under the body of the car and several tickets were under the wipers. It took 3 calls to 311 over a period of weeks to actually get it towed. We had a small party when it was finally removed.

Why that car was allowed to remain in the same spot for months, yet tax-paying residents who go on vacation are punished is beyond me.

Good luck with your situation!

[gothic-hamlet.livejournal.com]

Same thing happened to us in our neighborhood - last year a car was parked for a month or two in the same spot. But to top it off, it was parked a good solid two and a half feet from the curb - making it somewhat difficult far larger cars to drive down the street past it. It took several weeks worth of calls to get the darn thing towed.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Why that car was allowed to remain in the same spot for months, yet tax-paying residents who go on vacation are punished is beyond me.

I'll pick "Human Beings Sometimes Make Mistakes" for $400, Alex!

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Pretty big, stupid or maliciously ignorant mistake, especially since it's not an isolated incident.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's malicious: what would anyone in the Somerville Traffic and Parking Department have to gain by leaving an abandoned car on a city street?

My guess is that it's probably an issue related to understaffing and/or confusion between which parking zone the car is in and therefore who's responsible.

They only ticket if someone complains...

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

A Somerville police officer, when knocking my door to tell me my car would be towed unless I moved it (much appreciated), told me that they only ticket and tow for the 48 hour rule if there has been a complaint.

Someone *really* didn't like my car, because it hadn't even been there for 48 hours (about 46). I got off the ticket by showing them the airline ticket I used coming into the country, 48 hours before the ticket was issued.

I also had 3 tickets in that period for parking on the wrong side of the road, two of them 6 hours apart. They let me off one of those too. That's another rule I think is pointless on a quiet residential street.