San Francisco: The city as predator

A reader provides one reason among many to vote against both City Hall's hike in the vehicle license fee and its transportation bond in November:

Rob,

When a vehicle gets towed due to DPT violations, AutoReturn takes the vehicle to the storage lot at 450 7th St. and Harrison.

The towing fee is $472, and you get a DPT citation on top of that.

For example, if you were not paying attention, it is 3:05 PM and you parked in a "Tow Away No Stopping Zone" from 3 pm - 6 pm zone.

And SFMTA proposes fare, fee, and fine increases for Fiscal 2015-2016.

The above document gives details and the breakdown of fees: MTA charges a $254 administrative fee and AutoReturn Tow fee is $208.75.

Total for car tow: $462.75, not including the DPT citation.

The same page: "SFMTA’s towing and storage administrative fees partially recover the cost of SFMTA’s towing and storage administrative oversight at this time."

What does "administrative oversight" mean? DPT officer gives a citation, calls AutoReturn and watches the car getting towed. AutoReturn takes the vehicle to the storage lot. They release the vehicle only after you pay the towing fee of $462.75. Then you have 30 days to pay DPT for the citation.

AutoReturn does all the work for $208. While MTA collects $254 per tow for no work at all.

MTA is a welfare organization. They need a cost of living adjustment to increase their towing fees by $9, from $254 to $263 starting July 2014.

When a car gets towed in Houston, San Diego, and Chicago the towing fee is between $100 and $150. These cities don't have a bloated MTA that is hungry for money.

Rob's comment:
San Francisco has the most expensive parking tickets in the country. Our streets are in terrible condition. There are more than 5,000 employees in the Muni bureaucracy. In November we can vote against City Hall's latest money grab and for restoring some balance to the city's transportation system.

The latest figures from the city show that City Hall is already bringing in $247,349,190 a year from parking tickets, traffic tickets, red light cameras, gas taxes, vehicle license fees, parking meters, and the many city-owned parking lots. And there's the $84 million a year in sales taxes that the SFCTA rakes in to maintain city streets. It's not enough for City Hall, and it never will be.

Bike guy Ed Reiskin heads Muni for $294,000

Islam is a real problem