Louisville is littered with abandoned cars, and residents aren't happy

Phillip M. Bailey | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Neighborhoods concerned about growing number of abandoned cars There's been a huge increase in complaints about vehicles left behind that clog up Louisville streets.

Vanessa Lackey is sick and tired of all the abandoned cars, trucks and SUVs littered throughout Louisville neighborhoods.

There's a sky blue car in an alleyway behind a portion of Southwestern Parkway that she said has been sitting there for more than six months. It forces city garbage trucks and residents who have to park in the rear of their homes to go around.

There's a wrecked navy blue SUV along West Broadway across the street from the library's Shawnee branch that has been there for about six weeks. It has broken windows and is sitting on four flat tires.

There's a discarded green pickup truck that forces traffic to squeeze at the entrance to a Walgreens at Broadway and 35th Street. She said residents have been complaining to the city about that truck for almost a year.

"All of it gets on my nerves," Lackey said.

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Louisville is seeing a surge in complaints about vehicles abandoned on residential streets ever since the city's 13-acre police impoundment lot hit capacity (and then some).

The growing problem has police and some Metro Council members thinking up ways to change rules that prevent the city from scrapping vehicles abandoned in the impoundment lot to make room for others left on city streets.

There's been a 30 percent increase in complaints about abandoned vehicles in the first five months of 2018 compared to the same time period two years ago, according to a Courier Journal review of records.

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More than 1,600 calls this year touch nearly every corner of the city, ranging from totaled trucks sitting at corners to deserted cars on the side of highway ramps.

Looking at a full calendar year, city dispatchers received 18 percent more complaints about abandoned vehicles in 2017 than in the previous year. Many of the calls are multiple complaints about the same vehicle that hasn't been towed by police, city officials said.

"Ever since the city said that it cannot take any more cars, it seems like the problem has tripled," said Lackey, president of the Westover Neighborhood Association.

Mayor Greg Fischer's administration is looking for a new tow lot — due to space and environmental issues — that is able to handle a large number of vehicles, has 24-hour controlled access and a small building for tow lot employees.

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In the meantime, the lot located in the Butchertown neighborhood is about 500 vehicles over its 1,800 capacity, according to police officials.

Lt. Col. Robert Schroeder, an assistant chief who oversees the administrative bureau, acknowledges the lack of space at the tow lot has forced police to leave more deserted vehicles on the street.

"One of the things I did before I was promoted was handling those metro calls, so I understand how inconvenient it can be if it's parked in a bad location or what an eyesore it can be to the neighborhood," he said.

"We'd like to pull those off as soon as we can."

Schroeder said that police officers try to return to the location of a wreck to see if those vehicles can be moved. The police department also moved its weekly vehicle auctions to a larger facility that opened up roughly 100 to 150 spaces.

Iroquois neighborhood resident Ken Vaughn said there are noticeably more deserted vehicles these days. He said it took three months of calling the city before a silver car that was first left outside his home along Seneca Trail in February was picked up.

By then the car had been stripped to the bone for parts by metal scavengers, he said.

Vaughn, a retired Air Force veteran, said the city should consider multiple options including granting amnesty for those who can't afford to retrieve their vehicles.

"We do need to do something with them," he said. "I get there's a lot of people who get towed and they don't have the money to get them out."

Those costs can grow into thousands of dollars depending on the vehicle. Tow lot costs include $113 for the tow, $27 every half hour for additional labor if needed and $13 a day for storage

"Maybe the answer is just forgiving those people who can't get it out and let them come get their car," Vaughn said. "Or just scrap the cars."

Metro Councilman Vitalis Lanshima, who represents Vaughn's neighborhood, said his office gets calls every day about abandoned cars, trucks and SUVs. He said the city needs to enforce the rules on the books and get more aggressive about destroying those deserted vehicles before it finds a new, bigger impound lot.

"I know we’re talking about having an impound lot problem, but I personally think we have an implementation of the law problem,” said Lanshima, D-21st District.

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Under state law, local governments are given broad authority on how to seize, store and handle those vehicles.

The city's tow lot ordinance defines an abandoned vehicle as one parked in one place for three consecutive days after being marked with a warning. Once hauled to the lot, its owner has up to 45 days after being notified to appeal an auction of their vehicle.

About 610 motor vehicles are in the impound lot long term because they are part of evidence in a criminal case such as illegal dumping, fatal collision or homicide. The rest are hauled to the lot's uneven terrain for various reasons such as for traffic or parking violations.

If a vehicle is in decent shape, the city may use it or sell it at public auction to the highest bidder. But if it cannot be used, "it may be sold for its scrap or junk value," according to the ordinance.

Lanshima pressed police officials during a Metro Council budget hearing last month to get more aggressive about scrapping those vehicles. He said the city could be making money scrapping those vehicles rather than spending money to store them.

Schroeder told council members, however, that those inoperable vehicles represent a small percentage of the ones at the lot that police can scrap.

"Looking at how we handle these cars we do have to strike a balance between allowing the vehicle owners to come get their car in a reasonable amount of time and servicing the community," he said. "I don’t know what that right number is but it’s probably something we need to have a conversation about as a community."

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Police have also run into another problem when it comes to scrapping.

Though the tow lot ordinance permits the city to dispose of vehicles, Louisville police learned that the same rules that block junk, secondhand and scrap businesses from demolishing vehicles without a title also apply to police.

Schroeder told council members that one way to help make space at the lot is amending local ordinances law to allow city agencies to scrap in accordance with state law.

Councilman Kevin Kramer, R-11th, said many of those rules were intended to make it more difficult for thieves attempting to sell stolen jewelry or copper pipe, not to slow down the ability of the tow lot from conducting its normal business.

"I fully support and intend to sponsor an ordinance that will address any of the concerns related to limitations on processing scrapped cars at the impound lot to make additional room," he said.

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Lackey, the western Louisville resident, said instead of looking for more space at a new lot, the city should listen to residents who want police to start scrapping vehicles that have been at the site six months or more.

She said many neighbors are ready to give up after making multiple calls about the same vehicles. Others are wanting to take matters into their own hands, she said, by hiring private tow truck drivers to remove them at whatever cost.

"But that's not fair," Lackey said. "Why would I have that done and have them take it to Germantown and drop it off in front of somebody else's house, that's not right."

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/philb.