It’s Doubled in Past 5 Years : Business Is Bumper-to-Bumper in L.B. Tow Lot

Office clerk Tanya Stewart was not surprised when she learned about the glass window that rises from the service counter at the city tow yard. It’s bulletproof.

“Ooooooh,” Stewart exclaimed, “can people get angry sometimes!”

The tow yard is a depository for cars whose owners have been in accidents or have been accused of violating a law, from driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol to having a fistful of unpaid parking tickets. Since the city took over from a private operator in 1983, business has doubled. Last year, more than 21,000 people walked into--or stormed through--the tiny office on Anaheim Street by the Long Beach Freeway.

Surrounded by a high fence and barbed wire, the yard has an electronically controlled gate that opens to let customers inside so they can walk down rows and rows of dust-covered cars in search of their own.

But the first pit stop for people looking to recover their cars is the yard’s well-worn service counter area, with its plastic-covered sofa and chairs that are reminiscent of another decade. As they step through the door and walk across a floor typically littered with cigarette butts, drivers face a series of signs, including stickers advising that Visa and MasterCard are accepted.

Registration Expired

“I came to get my car,” Tom Cannefax told Stewart one recent morning. Pushing some papers through a slit in the glass, he continued, “My registration expired yesterday, the day they towed it. (So it was valid until then.) Now, why was it towed?”

“It has an expired registration,” Stewart replied. “Can I see your driver’s license?”

“Why?”

“I need it,” Stewart responded sharply.

“Can I see an explanation of why you towed my car,” asked Cannefax, growing increasingly irritated.

Cannefax’s vehicle was spotted by a tow truck driver who had been tagging along with street sweepers the day before. The 1976 Blazer was not blocking the sweeper, but it did not have a valid registration, according to tow yard employee Micki Cunningham. So it was towed to the yard, which on a typical day houses more than 800 cars.

“They get mad at us, but we’re only out there towing because we’re requested by the Police Department (or other city agencies) to do that,” Cunningham said.

“That’s what we get in here all the time, expired registrations,” she advised.

Recalling other encounters, Stewart added, “You ask them, ‘Do you have a current registration?’ They ask ‘What?’ So you say, ‘You know, that little piece of paper you get every year.’ And they look at you as if they don’t know what you’re talking about.”

City Can Apply Lien

Once in the tow yard, a car can be taken out only after all outstanding fees are paid and the owner has a valid driver’s license and registration. If a car is left in the yard more than five days, the city can put a lien on it and ultimately sell it.

Kyle Fuller, for example, said he was lucky that his 1981 Buick Regal was not slapped with a lien. Fuller said he left his car at the yard for eight days because he did not have enough money to pay the original tow charge, which eventually accrued to $140.

Fuller’s car was towed because it had been parked partially in his driveway and was blocking part of the sidewalk outside the home he shares with two roommates. Fuller said he sought, unsuccessfully, to talk police officers out of towing the car.

Fuller said that parking is always a hassle on his block, which is near a popular pizzeria at Broadway and Lime Avenue. “It’s horrible to find a parking space.”

So when the car was towed, “was I angry,” Fuller said. “And to see how after five days, they can put a lien on your car and sell it. . . . That’s not fair.”

The city entered the towing business after police complained that private tow truck drivers were slow to respond to calls. Residents also griped about not being able to pay with a check or retrieve their cars after normal business hours, said Gary Voigt, the city’s general services director. In addition, he said, many customers found their cars scratched or vandalized.

Open 24 Hours

Today, motorists can pay their fees with a check if they have a major credit card and other valid identification. And the yard is open around the clock. Officials say the level of vandalism also has been reduced.

When Long Beach launched its fleet of municipal tow trucks, officials did not expect their 24-hour business to boom as it has. “It’s been a shock,” Voigt said. Business has grown because, among other things, the city has increased its towing of abandoned vehicles and cars with several unpaid parking tickets.

In fiscal 1983-84, the city towed 10,429 cars. By the end of this fiscal year, officials expect that number to more than double.

The number of unclaimed cars sold by the city also has more than doubled in the last few years, from 3,313 in 1984-85 to 6,637 in 1987-88.

“The good cars are picked up. It’s the mediocre cars that have parking tickets and are not registered” that are left behind, said Joe Osuna, towing operations manager. “Sometimes, it’s not worth it to them (owners),” Osuna said, explaining that well-worn cars sometimes aren’t worth the amount of money that their owners have racked up in fees and fines.

Rate Has Slowed

While the number of cars towed and sold have increased steadily since 1983, the rate of increase has slowed down. From 1983 to 1984, the number of cars towed increased by 26%. The rate of increase has dropped almost every year since, down to 14.8% last year. Osuna estimates it will continue to drop this year, to 11.6%. If the trend continues, the number of towed cars could level out or possibly decrease by 1990, according to Osuna.

Voigt said the tow yard usually has been profitable. But last year, it cost about $500,000 more to run than what officials collected in towing fees and lien sales. That figure, however, may be misleading, according to Voigt. The discrepancy does not reflect that the tow yard paid off--early--a $400,000 city loan obtained to start up the yard in 1983, Voigt said. It also does not show that part of the expenses--another $400,000--went back into city coffers last year, according to Voigt.

But the higher volume of tows increased labor and operation costs. To keep the books balanced, the City Council earlier this year authorized several fee increases--the first in about three years, Voigt said. The basic towing charge, for example, was raised from $50 to $60. “We’ll be in good shape because of the increase” by the end of 1988-89 fiscal year, Voigt said.

City officials are also looking for a bigger tow yard. The city now has two sites, one where cars are initially towed and a second on Willow Street, where unclaimed vehicles are auctioned. By consolidating them, the city will eliminate the cost of towing from one to the other, Voigt said.