Springfield, Massachusetts Towing Scandal Threatens City Government

Image Contributed By "Way Cool 311 Jim"

I wouldn't want to close the greasy books on 2008 without one more post about the Springfield Towing Alliance, the subject of so much interesting ongoing scandal in Springfield, Massachusetts. I've blogged about this messy, almost-darkly-comic situation quite a bit already, click here, and also here.

But now things in Springfield have REALLY taken a serious turn...

The municipal government's functions are imperiled by spin-off from the scandal. How this came about is complicated and a bit hard to follow, but explained pretty well by two excellent articles in The Republican. Click here for the article by Dan Ring, and then click here for a subsequent article by Jack Flynn. (A reporter's name if I ever heard one)

This much I gather from the articles: Springfield has a $52 million dollar loan from the state. They're asking for additional time to pay back the loan, described as a "bail out." According to Flynn's article, the state "imposed a five-member Finance Control Board and stripped city officials of authority over municipal finances." OUCH!!!!!

The governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, is willing to work with the city, but he's being opposed by two legislators. One of the legislators, Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, seems to be involved in legitimate political horse-trading, asking for stuff like requiring a residence requirement for new city employees. The really inexplicable opposition comes from a legislator named Benjamin Swan. He's apparently willing to let city functions come to a screeching halt because, oh gee, some report hasn't been released yet about the Towing Alliance scandal, and how well the city handled that matter.

Well, guess who owns Swan? The Springfield Towing Alliance. From the sound of things, they have clear title to Swan's soul. The president of STA, Robert L. Jones, has contributed money to Swan and Swan has rented property to Jones. And yet Swan has the nerve to say he wants the city to be "fair and objective" in the awarding of contracts.

Swan claims he is "waiting for the state Inspector General's office to complete a review" of the situation with the Towing Alliance, and their loss of the contract for, well, massive malfeasance. (Well, Swan didn't say that LAST part. He is keeping an open mind, it appears, even though the Towing Alliance lost in court, so what is there to review?)

Though you wouldn't think two legislators could impact the fate of a bill so completely, apparently that's the way the votes stack up. While Swan "couldn't be reached for comment" (Dude, check the impound lot) the situation is being described as a "perfect storm" which will cause layoffs and service cutbacks if loan relief doesn't pass.

Ah, Springfield. I'm sure when it's spring, I'll still be writing about Springfield.

Towing Tops The Gripe List At West Virginia University, Morgantown

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According to a recent article in The Charleston Gazette, click here, college students in Morgantown usually have three main areas of concern: parking, TOWING, and landlord issues.

Their student government is speaking up for them at the state legislature, trying to have influence on legislation...

These student leaders have proposed that tow truck drivers should be required to take some other form of payment besides cash and, oh gee, stop operating on "a policy of intimidation and fear."

I don't know. Sounds like asking for a lot.

The article cites the example of a female student who was (apparently) shaken down for $150 cash, and the driver wouldn't show her the towing company's rates. This sounds very similar to a story I documented in Minneapolis, click here.

Also, storage fees for the first 24 hours after an impound is "killing" students, according to Jason Parsons, student body president.

Notably, this is the first West Virginia story to hit my blog. These student leaders just put their state on the Towing Utopia map.

Signs Of The Predatory Towing Times: "Tow Jack" Included In Urban Dictionary Dot Com

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My little contribution to the culture wars: I submitted "Tow Jack" to Urban Dictionary Dot Com, and it was (be still, my foolish heart!) approved and included. Click here for a link.

That wasn't hard, actually. Unlike...

...some contributors to the site, who appear to make stuff up and hope it will be approved for inclusion, (you know who you are) I only submit phrases which I've noted in common usage. And "tow jack" is one such phrase.

Here's an example, click here, where one commenter used the phrase, as in "Sergeant's Towing TOW JACKED a woman in labor."

Towing Scandal Bubbling Beneath The Surface In Lowell, Massachusetts

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A recent story in the Lowell Sun Online starts out as a routine and dry report on the renewal of certain towing contracts. Ah, yes, a bread-and-butter city hall story. Nothing too exciting here. Many readers will never finish the story, because they will move on to something more compelling like...crotch-grabbing former state senators, cruising the park benches of Lowell.

But then, midway through, the tone abruptly changes...

Certain juicy facts start getting aired. Here are the spicy nuggets I managed to pick out from a story which was very tightly packed with facts:

* Last year, a towing company called "Gulbicki's, Inc." performed poorly, and was fired. Some of the "poor performance" included not responding to calls. What's the deal with THAT? The calls weren't LUCRATIVE enough?

* Towing companies are trying to gain political power in Lowell, Massachusetts, as evidenced by the fact Alan Kazanjian--the owner of Kazanjian's Garage, which does towing--was recently elected to the city council.

* The towing companies bid for contracts with the city based on how much they are willing to pay the city PER TOW. So, clearly, these companies have a strong incentive to tow, tow, tow. Is there any concern for the public on the Lowell City Council?

* Christopher's Towing of Chelmsford was eliminated from the bidding because the owner, Christopher Ferreira, was convicted of indecent sexual assault and battery. Ferreira blames it all on his lying ex-girlfriend. No, I'm not making that up.

* In 2005, 6 of 7 towing companies bid less than $1.50 on the tows. The Inspector General issued a report accusing the towing firms of "illegally colluding" on bids. Guess who was one of the companies? Kazanjian's Garage!

All in all, one gets the feeling there is a lot of scandal bubbling beneath the surface in Lowell, Massachusetts and I hope the reporter who wrote this article, Jennifer Myers, gets an opportunity to dig into it further. One gets the sense Lowell, Massachusetts may have the same towing scandal potential as Springfield, Massachusetts. (Click here for an example)

"Spokanistan" Continues To Pour On The Predatory Towing Oppression

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Apparently, some residents of Spokane refer to the city as "Spokanistan." And it's no wonder. In addition to the year-after-year mass towings in Browne's Addition, click here, television station KXLY has written two more stories about what appears to be rampant predatory towing in "Spokanistan."

The first...

...of the stories is about the cost of towing, which is $500, click here for link. How does Spokane allow towing companies to charge this much money? Well...they do. They just do. Because, apparently, that's "Spokanistan" for you.

The second story is truly heartrending, click here. A woman didn't want to get towed in the street during snow removal, so she parked in the alley. The police thought she was blocking garbage collection even though--oh, gee--garbage collection was delayed due to the snowstorm, so really she wasn't. But she was towed anyway. And now she has a bill for $944, more than she can afford.

The towing company--Evergreen Towing--offered to knock off half the free, but the lady says she still can't afford to get her car back.

Predatory Towing Caused Christmas Misery In Springfield, Missouri

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A twisted, wrong-headed interpretation of the words "overnight parking" caused misery for a family in Springfield, according to an article on KY3.com, click here.

It happened like this: The MacGregor family has a daughter, and the daughter's boyfriend was visiting on Christmas. So that tells you something...

It tells you some of the cost of this towing fee will be money the family won't have a chance to use for wedding expenses. Because when a boyfriend visits his girlfriend's family at Christmas, that's SERIOUS.

In any case, the boyfriend and the daughter own a car together (so are they LIVING together? OK, never mind) and he left the car at the Grayhound station after he boarded the bus.

Signs in the parking lot say "No overnight parking" but, obviously, the boyfriend didn't think the sign applied to him leaving the car for a short while and having somebody else pick it up when he boarded the bus. Overnight generally means, well, overnight.

But Greyhound seems to think the words "overnight parking" should be interpreted "unattended vehicles."

Such overzealous interpretation makes me strongly suspect (though I can't prove it, admittedly) somebody is getting a kickback from the towing companies. This type of kickback is so common, and causes so much predatory and abusive towing, that many states have outlawed the practice.

Here's another reason to, as they say, "Go Greyhound" and "Leave the driving to us." Because Greyhound tricked you with a deceptive parking lot sign, then had your car towed.

City Of Spokane Pours On The Predatory Towing Oppression In Browne's Addition

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Apparently it happens every year. Snow falls and the City of Spokane demands "move your vehicle!" The residents of an area called Browne's Addition ask...

"Where? Where am I supposed to move it?" And the city tows, like, FIFTY VEHICLES as though the politicians, in their infinite wisdom, are being REASONABLE.

And with KXLY writing stories like this, click here, about a "necessary evil," an uprising like that seen in other states (click here) does not seem likely any time soon.

The real story is told in a single comment posted to the KXLY story:

* "I had no place to move my car, and (I) am an older single parent, with only my Down Syndrome son at home! It took me days to dig out my car and then I couldn't get out because the street had not been plowed."

I have to wonder what is up with the political situation in Spokane. Do the residents of Browne's Addition lack representation and political power to such a degree they are forced to take this, year after year?

On another note: this is my first post for the State of Washington. This tells you something about Washington State: usually, they manage to treat their citizens pretty well. But Spokane is apparently an exception.

Well, even then, not all of Spokane...just the hard-luck, downtrodden souls in Browne's Addition.