How Scofflaw Kept Scofflaw-Towing Deal

by Paul Bass | Feb 25, 2020 1:03 pm

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Posted to: City Hall, Transportation, Mill River, True Vote

With state law enforcement on their case, the proprietors of “Crown Auto Center” were at risk of losing a lucrative monopoly they’ve held for a decade: a “booting” and towing contract from city government. Then City Hall itself spent months helping them hold on. The proprietors — Albert J. “Jeff” Hansen and Bernadette Juliano — have had that contract since 2009. It allows them, and no other towing companies in town, to clamp cars with a metal “boot” if their owners owe back taxes or unpaid parking fees, under the city’s “Platehunter” program. They still have the contract now, at a new location on Grand Avenue. To keep it, Hansen and Juliano over the past four months have had to maneuver past obstacles. The couple has navigated a run-in with state motor vehicle cops (yes, they exist), beat back criminal charges in court, and reached a new after-the-fact legal agreement to allow them to keep prowling the streets for cars to immobilize with steel contraptions, then haul to a towing yard. At a time when officials are revisiting the city’s relationship with its towing companies, the Crown Auto saga offers a peek into the workings of this distinctive and often controversial type of government-funded business. Here’s how Hansen and Juliano held on. Lucrative Monopoly Under the booting and towing contract, Hansen’s and Juliano’s Crown Auto Center drivers use a scanner to determine if license plates on cars match those in a city database of tax and parking scofflaws. Under the booting and towing contract, Hansen’s and Juliano’s Crown Auto Center drivers use a scanner to determine if license plates on cars match those in a city database of tax and parking scofflaws. If a vehicle owner has at least $100 in delinquent motor vehicle taxes or at least $200 in delinquent parking ticket fees, the drivers attach a metal “boot” and affix a sticker to the driver side window giving owners 48 hours to pay the back bills. After 48 hours, the towers can bring the cars to a lot, where the owners must pay back whatever they owed, plus an $89 tow fee, a $55 boot fee and, sometimes, a $50 administrative fee for unpaid taxes. If a vehicle is unclaimed for 30 days, Crown Auto can auction it off or sell it for scrap. The contract specifically says that towers should back off when dealing with drivers. “Crown Auto Center LLC will comply with the City’s policy being to avoid confrontation with irate taxpayers, to not boot a vehicle where a physical confrontation may result,” the contract reads. In New Haven, those confrontations with towers are almost inevitable. People dislike having their cars booted up and hauled off. Sometimes drivers don’t understand the rules or are just unreasonable. Other times, it’s the company’s fault — and despite the contract language, physical confrontations have resulted with Crown Auto. Click here to read about one such case, which led to the arrest of a Crown towing employee who stole citizens’ money. A fight and public protest occurred at Crown in 2012 after an employee allegedly took cash from towed customers, then never recorded the bill as paid, requiring the owner to pay again to get her car. But Crown Auto kept the contract, year after year. From the start, its exclusive hold on the contract riled other towing companies in town. The city decided to stick with one vendor rather than spread the work around, the way it does with the police department’s rotating list of 10 companies that can remove cars in no-parking zones. The original stated reason, offered by then-city Controller Mark Pietrosimone: Having just one vendor is more efficient, producing a “streamlined” process. The updated official version: The Crown lot is centrally located downtown, so it’s easier for vehicle owners to get to. (A competing bidder for the contract claims he had secured a centrally located lot as well for the contract.) In 2013, then-Yale law student Brian Sweeney wrote a 64-page paper about Crown’s monopoly contract with the city. He argued that the monopoly arrangement paved the way for corruption and explored alternatives, like making towing the government’s job. (Click here to read the paper, which is entitled, “A Critical Look at New Haven’s Tax-and-Tow Program: Early Benefits and Long-Term Dangers of Monopoly Service Provision in Municipal Contracting.”) Last Oct. 6, the city granted Crown Auto its latest license. Hansen signed it for Crown Auto. Then-Mayor Toni Harp signed it. The city’s website, meanwhile, listed Bernadette Juliano as the Crown Auto Center’s primary contact. The contract was back-dated to take effect the previous July 1. Lucrative Sale Five days after signing the contract, Hansen and Juliano risked losing it. Because Hansen sold the Crown Street lot where the company stored the towed cars. Under state law, a towing company needs a lot to stow cars in order to keep the state license needed to tow vehicles for money. Five days after signing the contract, Hansen and Juliano risked losing it. Because Hansen sold the Crown Street lot where the company stored the towed cars. Under state law, a towing company needs a lot to stow cars in order to keep the state license needed to tow vehicles for money. But Hansen had good reason to sell: The property had rocketed in value. In fact, he would have had reason to kick himself the rest of his life if he didn’t sell. So on Oct. 11 Hansen’s limited-liability corporation sold the three contiguous Crown Street pieces of property for $2.9 million, far more then their most recent combined appraisal of $560,000. Hansen had bought those properties for just $394,000 between 1996 and 2004 — back when, unlike now, people weren’t snapping up downtown properties to build on. The city’s current building boom had made the properties almost impossible not to unload to a developer. A day before the deeds changed hands — and less than a week after he’d gotten the contract by touting his central downtown location — Hansen wrote to the city seeking permission to subcontract the contract to another business he and Juliano run, a used-car dealership at 529 Grand Ave. called Grand Auto Center. But that caused another problem: Hansen and Juliano did not have permission to store towed cars through the 529 Grand business. Way back in October 2012, Hansen and Juliano had won permission from the City Plan Commission to set up a “limited towing” operation at the site. But that permission included storing cars connected only to purchases and sales — and not for commercial towing. (The City Plan certificate listed Hansen as owner of the property and Juliano as representative of the business.) Hansen and Juliano needed zoning approval to store the towed cars there. They didn’t have it. Pike International, which bought the Crown Street property, agreed to let Hansen continue to lease it until the new owners were prepared to build on it, according to Pike principal Shmully Hecht. But since the sale, the lot has sat empty. So Crown, now known as Grand, dropped off the police department’s rotating list of 10 towers authorized to haul away illegally parked cars. But the lucrative monopoly booting contract, which is overseen by the city tax collector’s, office remained in force. Hansen and Juliano’s company kept booting and towing cars of tax and ticket scofflaws, without apparent state permission but with the acquiescence of city government’s Tax Collector’s Office. Grand, née Crown, was apparently bringing those cars somewhere. Where? The state Department of Motor Vehicles, acting on a tip, came to New Haven to find out. Showdown On East Street DMV Inspector Todd Maikshilo got the tip. DMV Inspector Todd Maikshilo got the tip. On Oct. 28, Maikshilo paid a visit to Grand Auto. He was accompanied by fellow DMV Inspector Matthew Zipoli and by New Haven cop Brian Pazsak, the department’s towing officer. Pazsak had learned that Hansen and Juliano were keeping the booted and towed vehicles in a padlocked surface lot at 409 East St., around the corner from its Grand Avenue shop, according to an incident report Maikshilo later wrote. People looking for cars or looking to contact Crown Auto were being directed to Grand Auto — even though the city’s website still listed the outdated Crown Street location. Here’s what happened during the visit, according to Maikshilo’s report: The three officers arrived at Grand Auto and encountered a “white male who initially refused to identify himself.” Do you have anything to do with Grand Auto? Maikshilo asked. “No, I just hang around and help out,” replied the man, who displayed a “hostile and argumentative” “demeanor” with Pazsak, according to the report. Pazsak informed the DMV officers that this man was actually Hansen, the Crown Auto licensee. Hansen fessed up, showed his Florida driver’s license. But he kept insisting “that he had no connection with the Grand Auto facility, that he just ‘hung around’ there. He was confrontational with the officers as to why they were inspecting the Grand Auto facility.” Maikshilo “did observe that a Crown Auto tow truck was parked inside the bay area of the business.” He asked Hansen why. “It’s just a tow truck parked there, that’s all,” Hansen responded. The officers warned Hansen not to “interfere with our investigation” as he “continued to be confrontational” and “hostile.” Bernadette Juliano showed up. She identified herself as Hansen’s wife. Hansen, in turn, “denied this, and stated that she is only his girlfriend.” Juliano consented to an inspection of the premises, during which Hansen was again warned to stop interfering as he “became very defensive and argumentative” about the towing that was occurring. Eventually Hansen “acknowledged” that Grand Auto was not authorized to tow cars on the city tax scofflaw list. But then he added, “That’s a gray area.” Maikshilo asked permission to inspect the Crown Auto lot, which Hansen told him was being renovated. Hansen “refused my request,” a violation of Connecticut General Statutes 14-64(3) that opens the towers’ records to state inspectors, according to Maikshilo’s report. Finally, according to the report, Hansen admitted “he was storing his tax tows, non consensual police tows and trespass tows” at the 409 East St. lot. Maikshilo asked why he was doing that. “He replied that his Crown Street address was going to be paved and he decided to store the vehicles at this unlicensed lot location,” Maikshilo wrote. The group walked around the corner into the lot, where the inspectors found 58 motor vehicles. Hansen “acknowledged that this storage lot was not part of his licensed location on Crown Street nor was it sanctioned by either the City of New Haven or the CT DMV Dealer Licensing Unit as an off site parking area for vehicles under the care of his licensee.” The group walked around the corner into the lot, where the inspectors found 58 motor vehicles. Hansen “acknowledged that this storage lot was not part of his licensed location on Crown Street nor was it sanctioned by either the City of New Haven or the CT DMV Dealer Licensing Unit as an off site parking area for vehicles under the care of his licensee.” The DMV inspector charged Hansen with illegally operating an unlicensed dismantler’s facility and violating DMV dealer and mechanic regulations. He noted that Juliano is listed as a Crown Auto Center co-member with the DMV; Hansen “was adamant that this was a mistake,” and Maikshilo did not charge her. Maikshilo subsequently discovered that Hansen was using the Grand Avenue business address “to conduct his own Crown Auto business with the CT DMV and the City of New Haven,” another violation of state law. Maikshilo gave Hansen “five days to vacate” all the cars in the East Street lot. The Independent tried to get Hansen’s and Juliano’s side of the story. They were not present during multiple visits to the Grand Avenue location; the Crown Street lot was empty. An employee at Grand Auto, Bernadette Volikas (former Crown manager), said the couple had received a business card left by a reporter with a message asking they call. Reached Monday on his cell phone, Hansen was asked about the allegations and about his plans. “That’s personal business. I don’t need it in the newspapers,” he responded. He said he had to get off the phone to take another call. He promised to call back. He never did, and he did not answer subsequent calls. Cash Keeps Flowing Despite the state directive and the charges then pending in Superior Court, Grand Auto kept booting and towing cars under the city contract with now-closed Crown Auto. Notices left on booted cars directed vehicle owners to make payments either at the city tax office — or at Grand Auto Center at 529 Grand Ave., contrary to the directions on the city’s website. While the police department no longer did business with Hansen and Juliano’s towing operation, the tax collector’s office — and City Hall in general — were helping them keep it going. By Jan. 8, despite the 2012 zoning prohibition on commercial towing and storage at Grand Auto, the pair obtained a letter of zoning compliance for commercial storage from the City Plan Department. City Deputy Zoning Director Jenna Montesano issued the letter. She did not return multiple requests for comment for this story. Mayoral spokesman Gage Frank said the letter was issued, and no hearings held, because storage of cars is allowed as of right under the city code at the 409 East St. lot. With that letter in hand, Hansen was able to return to court and, on Jan. 13, have the criminal case against him nolled. Meanwhile, Elicker administration lawyers drew up an amendment to the contract between Crown Auto and the tax collector’s office. The amendment substitutes “Grand Auto Center LLC” for “Albert J. Hansen d/b/a Crown Auto Center LLC” as the contractor. Hansen, Juliano, and Mayor Justin Elicker signed the agreement on Jan. 15. Tax Collector Maurine Villani declined to discuss her office’s dealing with Crown and Grand. She directed questions to the mayor’s office. “The ultimate goal is to get people to pay their taxes. We want it to be done legally, fairly and appropriately. We’re not in the business of helping people run illegal operations or have schemes where they take advantage of the city and the taxpayers,” Mayor Elicker said. Between the time Crown closed up shop and the zoning compliance letter was issued, while the state ordered Hansen and Juliano to cease their towing and storage activities, Crown/Grand booted 1,269 vehicles in town and towed 160 of them at $89 a pop, plus storage fees. The company also had the right to sell unclaimed vehicles or sell them for parts. Frank said the city continues to maintain an exclusive contract with Crown/Grand because only one other company bid, and that competing bidder doesn’t have a centrally located lot where people can retrieve their vehicles. Also, the owner of that competing bidder, Tony Juliano of Tony’s Long Wharf, owed property taxes on his own company’s vehicles, according to Frank. (Tony Juliano told the Independent that his company had secured a lot on Grand Avenue for the towing, and that his company and the city “go back and forth” on bills owed to each other.) Meanwhile, the city needs the revenue it gets from collecting unpaid parking tickets and back taxes. Frank said the tax/ticket program generally brings in between $1.5 and $1.8 million to the city. Mayor Elicker said that in the broader picture, New Haven needs to find a way to capture more of the millions of dollars in unpaid parking tickets and fines that go uncollected each year. He said his team has been discussing that challenge during deliberations over the coming fiscal year budget. (Click here for a 2019 story by the New Haven Register’s Ed Stannard about top scofflaws.) “You can understand the importance of having some ability to track down people who don’t pay tickets or taxing. It’s not fair for the people who are paying,” Elicker said. The original contract signed in October gives the city the right to automatically renew it with Hansen and Juliano’s company, without considering other companies, annually for four more years. Elicker’s amendment removed that provision. So the booting/towing contract with Crown/Grand expires on June 30. At that point the administration plans to revisit the arrangement. Showdown on George Street For now, the booting and towing continue apace — along with the hot tempers that flare on both sides of the transactions. For now, the booting and towing continue apace — along with the hot tempers that flare on both sides of the transactions. One of Juliano’s and Hansen’s towers, named Louis, encountered that ire when he went to tow a 2018 six-shift BMW M3 Competition with Massachusetts license plates around 11 a.m. on Jan. 29. The car was parked on George Street near York. The car’s owner, Pooyan Khodadoust of Guilford, came out of 100 York St., where he said he owns several units, to find Louis applying the boot. Khodadoust later claimed he didn’t realize Louis worked for a towing company. “He looked like he was trying to steal my rims. He was not dressed in any official clothing,” he said. So Khodadoust, who lives in Guilford, got inside the car and tried to move it. It didn’t move. He came back out. He saw the boot. It was now wedged into the car’s wheel well. He turned on his phone camera to the video setting. You can watch the subsequent encounter in that video, above. “I’ll make your company pay for this,” Khodadoust said as Louis applied the boot. “You drove on the boot. It’s illegal,” Louis responded. “You did some illegal shit.” “I did some illegal shit. You’re right. You’re right,” Khodadoust, growing heated, responded. “I’m sure you’ve never done illegal shit in your life. That’s why you’re a fucking tow truck driver.” Khadadoust, who said he owed the city $475 in unpaid tickets and fines, said he had to pay another $300 for the boot and tow. He accuses Louis of wrecking his car with the way he booted the car— and causing over $10,000 in damage. He disagreed with Louis’s claim that he in fact caused the damage by trying to drive the BMW with the boot partially on. The Independent asked him to demonstrate the damage and tally the needed repairs. Khadadoust did; you can watch that in the above video. He said he has contacted his insurance company, which he claimed is preparing to sue Grand Auto to recover the cost of repair. More broadly, Khadadoust argued that the city should take towing in-house rather than hire outside towing companies to do that job. Either way, it’s not work for the timid. Christopher Peak and Thomas Breen contributed reporting.

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posted by: tmctague on February 25, 2020 1:25pm Only business I’ve ever dealt with that only accepts exact change, down to the penny.

posted by: alex on February 25, 2020 1:47pm I thought Elicker was supposed to be against corruption. There’s really nobody who can tow cars in the New Haven area? Call me unconvinced.

posted by: OverTheRiverThruTheHood on February 25, 2020 2:02pm Crown Towing are grade-A scumbags. Nothing would make me happier (or secure my vote more) than these predators being run out of town.

My last run in with them went like this: After a long day of work I return to my car, which is parked in a garage that I pay hundreds of dollars to the NH Parking Authority for a pass for every month, to find a boot on it. My passenger, who is on crutches, waits in the car while I walk the 4-5 blocks to get to Crown. Upon getting the I am first informed that I can’t pay with my credit card because my license has my middle initial on it and my card does not, and they have to be an exact match, despite a wallet full of ID that matches the name on the car registration. So I have to pay them in cash, because we all walk around with that kind of money, and that it must be exact to the penny. Why they can’t make change is a mystery. So now I have to find an ATM to get cash, and I have to them buy something to get change because ATMs only give out 20s (and pay a bank fee for the withdrawl).

And all this jumping through hoops is for the great privilege of getting my own car returned to me from these thieves. So that I can finally drive myself back to my house (that I pay thousand in city taxes on every year.) This kind of antagonistic disrespect of residents of this city is BS. I hope Crown Towing and all the others are kicked to the dustbin of history with debtors prisons.

posted by: Noteworthy on February 25, 2020 2:18pm Towing Notes: 1. This story disgusts me - City Plan to Villani and the tax collector’s office - to legal and this administration - they all have blood on their hands keeping this operation in business. They should not be aiding and abetting illegal and unethical business operators. 2. Grand/Crown - let’s just start with the Florida driver’s license. You have 30 days as a new resident to get a CT license. Clearly, these scofflaws have lived here a long time, are not residents of Florida and should be licensed for this state. 3. Their business practices are deceptive, dishonest and choked with machinations so hideous I’m frankly shocked that either Harp or Elicker would keep this kind of business in this city. They’re abusive and thumb their noses at the law, the rules and common decency. 4. Crown/Grand should never have their contract renewed and they should be barred from bidding on that contract ever again.

posted by: 1644 on February 25, 2020 2:57pm It’s hard to have much sympathy for the towers, but Khadadoust sounds like the arrogant type who makes these programs necessary. He obviously has the money to pay his fines, he just doesn’t feel any sense of responsibility to the destitute city of New Haven. I doubt his insurance company will sue the towing company. It’s not worth the effort. It will cover expenses over the deductible, and raise Khadadoust’s rates. I least, I hope so.

posted by: Thomas Alfred Paine on February 25, 2020 3:16pm @alex

Hopefully this fiasco, which is directly tied to a contract with the City made by the administration of Mayor Toni Harp shortly before the November election, and possibly practices of prior Democratic administrations, can be addressed and resolved to be more competitive in the future.

Often it is difficult to unscramble eggs broken and stirred by someone else, and then thrown on your plate. You have to deal with the cards that you’re dealt.

There could possibly be legal entanglements and ramifications here that could be costly to the city.

Let’s see how things pan out before being so quick to make charges of corruption.

The former spokesman for the People’s Campaign for Toni Harp should not be so fast and loose to make judgmental accusations of corruption, because the Harp administration is directly linked to this controversy.

What would alex say about this expose,

if Toni Harp were mayor today?

posted by: alex on February 25, 2020 3:22pm I thought it was a new day. I very much doubt that Mayor Harp held Mayor Elicker’s hand and forced him to sign.

posted by: newhavenishome on February 25, 2020 3:25pm Predators endorsed by City Hall. Disgusting.

posted by: Pedro Soto on February 25, 2020 4:14pm I have been saying this for years- the city should be in charge of booting and towing for unpaid taxes - period. Look at the level of company they have to contract out to. This is a practice that needed to end yesterday. Setting up an impound lot- allowing people to pay via credit card, and handling the whole process with an ounce of compassion would go pretty far on this.

posted by: Samuel T. Ross-Lee on February 25, 2020 4:41pm I KNEW that if I waited long enough Noteworthy would write something with which I agree. Well, Noteworthy’s comment here is IT.

posted by: James Sunderland on February 25, 2020 4:53pm It’s telling and just a bit on the nose that the font used for “Grand Auto Center” is the same title font used for the video game “Grand Theft Auto”

posted by: Checking on February 25, 2020 4:55pm If you are ever caught up in a mass towing from someplace downtown, check Artizan Street, just on the other side of the train tracks from State Street. These a-holes hid cars over there so they can get as many as they can before taking them back to their lot.

posted by: Patricia Kane on February 25, 2020 6:19pm This article is one example of why the Press is protected under the First Amendment.

Investigative reporting like this shines a light on situations no one else is willing to investigate.

Thanks for the great work on this topic.

posted by: missthenighthawks on February 25, 2020 6:54pm This man’s behavior is disgusting. Disparaging a person doing a hard job to make a living. Meanwhile, he’s driving in a car with Massachusetts plates, while living in Guilford, to avoid paying CT taxes. How dumb can you be to get in a car with a boot on the wheel and try to drive away. He did the damage and it would be discouraging if he isn’t the person who ends up paying for it.

posted by: urbancarpenter on February 25, 2020 7:22pm This is New Haven. Residents are REVENUE. It’s in the by-laws. ;)

posted by: fastdriver on February 25, 2020 7:25pm WOW! I’m speechless! There HAS to be more to this story than we know because I do NOT believe that Justin would continue to do business with a company like this! Time will tell! Let’s see what happens on June 30th! DRAIN THE SWAMP JUSTIN!

posted by: GooddayNH on February 25, 2020 7:49pm Okay you must be living under a rock if you can’t follow the green back road. It’s illegal to have a single source vendor contract for ten years. TONY’S finally got stopped on the tax scam with the city. If you owe you can’t tow but that is still allowed. So many contracts in the city don’t pass the smell test at all. It’s all who you know and give them some hidden dough. The tax payers get robbed as usual, certain rules for certain fools. If I stole from my employer he wouldn’t help me keep my job. You must cast your net far, wide, deep and long as in term. So many companies get to make their own rules and it’s disgusting. Mayor if your reading this hire an independent out of state agency to perform audits on every department. Purchasing, public works, Pierre Barbour’s Solid Waste Authority, parks, engineering and so on. Especially the property tax department, these big construction companies and tow companies get warned when they are coming to hide their actual assets. Hire a company to revaluate each and every company on a Saturday. The cost will be ZERO except any additional items they find they get 25% and watch the tax roll increase. They don’t pay their fair share at all and most city officials know it

posted by: americandream on February 25, 2020 8:43pm Wow, I wonder what sort of back room deal the tax office has with crown/grand. This stinks all the way to city hall. I hope they are sued for the damage to the bmw, although I’m sure the owner was aware of his tickets. However it clearly states in the contract that crown and its employees are to back down if an argument occurs over the booting or towing. Which they clearly did not! Suspend them now. They Broke the rules! I thought this was a new day for new haven. The city should sue them for breach of contract, and maybe recoup some of that money they made towing and booting the 1400 cars they should have not touched. Crown auto. Should be Clown Auto

posted by: Kevin68 on February 25, 2020 9:34pm Well, It’s my turn. These people are parasites who make their living off of other people’s misfortune. I had the bad luck of parking on Howe street one night and realizing my car had been towed. Apparently I owed $99.10 in taxes on a car I hadn’t owned in years. I walked to Crown towing and was told about their “exact change” policy. I had $100 and told them to keep the 90 cents change. The woman told me it had to be EXACT. I asked where I might find change since it was late and pouring rain. She said-“That’s not my fucking problem”. Now at this moment admittedly, I lost my moral footing by suggesting that she find a new line of work before the shitty karma she doles out catches her in the form of some horrible painful disease. That comment set in motion a confrontation that resulted in all the tow drunk drivers speeding back to the office probably kick my ass. I was smart enough to give 911 a heads up so they arrived pretty quickly. The result was that I had to come back the next day with a cooler head to get my car(with no extra fees). I picked up my car, had some words with the owner about how he treats “customers” and left. I was just glad it didn’t smell like piss inside. I went home, parked my car in my New Haven driveway and when I went to go to work in the morning I had two slashed tires. DEAR MAYOR, THESE PEOPLE ARE CRIMINALS THAT EXTORT, INTIMIDATE AND DAMAGE TAXPAYER PROPERTY. The end.

posted by: Jane2 on February 26, 2020 10:49am Cute. The notorious Crown Towing keeps getting city assistance. Meanwhile, I appeal a measly parking ticket and Traffic and Parking makes me fear for my job. I’m in the process of researching the ordinances for my appeal and pulled a document from the City of New Haven that was shocking. I have yet to go directly to the muni-code itself to check it out—I have a long way to go in my research yet—but this is what it says about overstaying meters - If this is true, it’s insane. If it is not accurate, the city should remove this pdf. “Sec. 29-62. -Penalty for violating parking meter provisions. Any violation of or failure to comply with the parking meter provisions of this article, or the rules or regulations adopted by the Traffic Authority or Parking Authority in connection with parking meters, and evidenced by suitable signs or marks indicating such rules, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) or by imprisonment not exceeding thirty (30) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.” https://www.newhavenct.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx? Another cute detail I learned while wading through all this nonsense is that sometimes, not always, the city’s parking ticket lookup site requests access to my microphone and camera when I visit that page, run by rcmpay.com. This website: https://newhaven.rmcpay.com/ I see the itinerant sophist Alex of Madison, is weighing in re Elicker in these comments. I’m no Alex fan and was not keen on his blunt attacks on Elicker during the campaign, so don’t mistake me as an Elicker hater, but I have to agree with Alex here. I have long believed, for years now, that in nothing would Elicker be blinder or more solicitous of than enforcement no matter how petty or wrong. That the city continually dismisses the serious outrages perpetrated by Crown Towing demonstrates a disgraceful lack of regard for and respect for city residents

posted by: Jane2 on February 26, 2020 10:57am Part 2, comment continued: If you have old, paid parking tickets, go online and click on them to see the photos of your car - for a bunch of the old tickets (maybe just the paid ones?) the photos of your car have been replaced with photos of cars from various Canadian regions, apparently rcmpay has contracts with Canadian cities too and the system integrity has failed so that New Haven’s ticket photos have been flooded with photos from Canadian tickets from Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. I looked up old, paid tickets under my plate and that’s what I found. I entered adjacent ticket numbers for other people and found the same thing. I have yet to find any black letter law regarding notice requirements for tickets. Apparently they can shove any old lie in your windshield and it’s legal, but like I said, I have just begun researching. The Traffic authority is the Police Commission, and so cycling, virtual lifetime appointments to the PD commission plague the traffic authority as well. Back to Crown - it should have lost the contract years ago

posted by: OverTheRiverThruTheHood on February 26, 2020 11:57am i’d also like to point out that their logo is using the font from the video game Grand THEFT Auto. How appropriate.

posted by: Christopher Schaefer “the city’s ‘Platehunter’ program”. Does this program still exist? I’m trying to clear up a multiple-vehicles-owner, tax-scofflaw problem on a single block of First Street. I’ve been pursuing this for over a year—and am getting nowhere: https://www.ctinsider.com/news/nhregister/article/Neighbors-say-out-of-state-cars-clog-block-14821723.php Mayor Elicker: “The ultimate goal is to get people to pay their taxes…You can understand the importance of having some ability to track down people who don’t pay tickets or taxing. It’s not fair for the people who are paying”. Agreed! And, if they don’t pay their taxes—remove vehicles that are taking up spaces that should be available to taxpayers.

posted by: Jane2 on February 26, 2020 12:17pm Part 3. There is something else we need to understand about city ticketing. But for state laws preventing cities from profiting off most kinds of ticketing, such as speeding tickets, New Haven would resemble cities like Ferguson where we learned in the years that followed demonstrations there that people were being buried under fines pursued motivated by revenue generating. But state law does allow New Haven to keep parking related fines. I think people are reluctant to admit that revenue generation is a motive here, the dept denies it is, but the ticketing is too aggressive and unfair not to be. The dept is really not protecting due process in appeals from what I can see. It denies appeals of clearly defective tickets. It denies receiving certified mail, even when shown proof. The time frame for second appeals are questionable. Some of us have seen hovering meter readers from time to time at meters about to turn and it continues to contract with a company like Crown. Only a city desperate for cash would ticket an out of town tourist who parks twice on the same block within so many hours and has not fed the meter and is not at an expired meter. I believe New Haven has become what’s known as a ticket trap and that if the city were larger, would have attracted more press for it, the way Chicago and Washington DC have.

posted by: Hartman13 on February 26, 2020 12:38pm Don’t blame Justin. Blame the corrupt business owner. We all are vulnerable to having the wool pulled over our eyes. I’m confident the matter with Crown/Grand Auto will be resolved and we’ll never have to see or do business with them again.

City/ TTP & PD run towing is the way to go! Mr.

Mr. Mayor, I’m ready to pitch an idea that could solve the problem, and in turn bring the close to three million dollars collected by contract towers (I think there are about ten - though I know of one that operates more than one company name under one business - at least that was the case two years ago) back into New Haven’s coffers. Coffee?

posted by: SpeakingOut on February 26, 2020 5:04pm Honest question: How do companies like Grand/Crown Auto Center continue to secure these contracts? Inquiring minds want to know!

posted by: Thomas Alfred Paine on February 27, 2020 9:39am I was once towed by Crown. I had to get a ride to their lot. When I got there I found out about their cash only policy.

I did not have the amount of cash required with me, and they did not take credit cards.

I then had to get a ride home to get the cash, and then return to the Crown lot to get my car.

The City should require all towers to take credit card payments to make it more convenient for residents and visitors to New Haven. That provision should be added to all towing contracts with the City.

It is stressful enough to get towed, but to finally find your car, get to the location only to find that you have to go home or to a bank or ATM to get cash and return to the lot, adds a totally unnecessary burden.

posted by: Boyroy on February 27, 2020 9:43am The guy in the BMW with the Massachusetts plate is a liar and a con man he’s trying to con his insurance company to fix his car I was there when it all happened I was the guy who actually put the boot on the front tire Of the BMW I wish his insurance company would contact me so I can tell them exactly how it happened that guy didn’t want to talk or do anything he jumped in his car and took off I was screaming and yelling don’t do it you got a boot on the front tire don’t do it and he still try to takeoff in his Car I have videos as well he’s a ConMan trying to get Grant auto to pay for his car Yes had he came out and asked what was going on we wouldn’t of booted his car because we don’t want confrontation However it escalated so fast I put the front boot on the front tire And as I was about to put it on the back tire I heard someone running real fast screaming and yelling behind me as I looked to see who it was this guy came running out and jumped in his car started it up and try to take off as I was screaming and yelling at him don’t do it you got a book on the front tire he still got in the car and tried to takeoff And said we mess his car up So someone please contact me for the full story or how his car got like that ConMan

posted by: NewHavenRaven on February 27, 2020 5:21pm I missed one tax payment and they towed my car when I was downtown at work. No boot for 48 hours.

posted by: GooddayNH on February 27, 2020 7:54pm I AGREE, WHY IS IT OKAY FOR THE CITY TO NOT MINORITY BUSINESSES FOR A YEAR AND A HALF.THATS WAS THE REASON RCN SUED THE CITY. ITS A DO AS I SAY NOT WHAT I DO CITY. I REALLY FEEL BAD FOR MAYOR ELICKER

HE INHERITED A HUGE CORRUPT MESS ITS LIKE AN ICE BERG A LITTLE ON TOP AND MOST OF IT HIDDEN UNDERNEATH THIS CONTRACT GOT RUSHED TO BE SIGNED BEFORE THE LAST ADMINISTRATION LEFT I WANT TO KNOW WHO THE BID DONATIONS CAME FROM FORMER MAYOR HARP

posted by: Jane2 on February 28, 2020 8:43am Someone suggested the city contract with an ethical towing company. What makes people think an ethical towing company would want the contract? Would you? Paul, there are meritorious points on both sides of the story involving the Guilford BMW owner with the Mass__ plates but really, can’t you find other examples? This story is about money, in part, and lots of people in New Haven don’t have much of that. Can you pull the auction records—how many people are losing their cars for past taxes or tickets? That’s more meaningful to me and probably others, and more indicative of the impact of our programs than this guy. Are we to believe that the only problem is a bunch of rich people won’t pay up? Another thing we really have to face is what kind of ticketing and towing program are we running? A revenue-generating program is qualitatively different on Every Single Level from one operating according to the stated goals of orderly, fair parking! Drastically different! On every single step of the process! New Haven’s program has been taken over by revenue demands, period. Please, let’s start dealing with that and accepting that it changes everything. Without enforcement at meters on commercial streets, people would be hogging meters all day - we all know that. But when you are under pressure to plug the city budget with millions of dollars, enforcement markedly changes. It becomes abusive, overly aggressive, due process is trashed and residents are abused. That’s the facts. And not for nothing, the program is also rife with favoritism.