car towed

Started by DavidJ17 • 13 replies • 747 views

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DavidJ17 (Florida)
Posts: 47

Posted:

Hello,

Many years ago (at least 15 years) our Condo requested to ban parking on a Public street that borders our Condo. So 4 'no parking' signs were installed along this stretch of road. I'm not sure if the City or the Condo that installs those signs since it was a public street. I'm guessing the City. So there are 4 signs along the street. But the 2 signs in the middle only have one arrow pointing outward. Meaning there is no arrow pointing inward on both signs. That left a big enough gap for a car to park there. (this is a little difficult to understand without seeing pics) There was room for a small car to park between the sign with no arrow pointing to the right & the driveway. I e-mailed the local Police and asked if that was a legal spot to park there. His response was yes, you can park there. After nearly a year of me & my room mate taking turns parking in that spot, my room mates car was towed. We called police and was told they had nothing to do with it. The HOA had it towed. So we went to get the car out, and the towing company had a map from the HOA from 15 years ago that had the section of the Public st highlighted to have cars towed. After some research we all realized that an HOA cannot have cars towed from a Public street. The towing company was doing what they were told to do according to the map from 15 years ago. So they towed the car by mistake. Any guesses on who should refund the money back to my room mate for having her car towed by mistake?

BillH10 (Texas)
Posts: 1,217

Posted:

The HOA. You stated the towing company operated at their direction.

DavidJ17 (Florida)
Posts: 47

Posted:

That is correct? The HOA did refund my room mate the money. HOWEVER, as months went by, I thought more & more of the CITY having some responsibility. Let's go back to the beginning. The HOA requested to ban parking on a Public street. From one end to the other. The City is the one who installed the 'no parking' signs. Instead of installing signs with a DOUBLE arrow, they installed 2 of those signs with no arrow allowing a car to park there LEGALLY. If there is a street that doesn't allow parking from one end to the other, the signs in the middle should have an arrow on BOTH sides, correct? See diagram below. 1,2,3,4 are 'no parking' signs. The HOA banned parking on the entire street. #2 in the top diagram has no arrow pointing to the right, and #3 has no arrow pointing to the left. The bottom diagram is correct. So what I'm getting to is the City installed the signs incorrectly, resulting in a car parking there. Therefore, I believe the City has some responsibility in this.

1> <2 3> <4
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1> <2> <3> <4
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SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Wait until night. Remove all the no parking signs. Someone will have to look everything up again before the city puts them back up.

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Ask the HOA for the money. If they refuse. Small claims court.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

You keep wanting someone to blame. Why not figure out a way to fix the issue? There has to be an ordinance with the city to allow the enforcement of the no parking in that area. So that is the resource need to go to about any questions. The HOA just allowing them to put the signs up to mark the no parking area they designated.

Former HOA President

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

my guess is the hoa installed the signs 15 years ago. or the city installed them as a favor, but they are not legal. So if they are removed today, they might stay removed. If the hoa asks the city to put them back, the city will say, no, its a public street.

SamE2 (New Jersey)
Posts: 310

Posted:

I think the towing company should return the money to your roommate and collect the money from your HOA. The towing company made a mistake and they are responsible for their mistake.

PestY
Posts: 128

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MelissaP1 on 09/29/2019 9:48 PM
You keep wanting someone to blame. Why not figure out a way to fix the issue? There has to be an ordinance with the city to allow the enforcement of the no parking in that area. So that is the resource need to go to about any questions. The HOA just allowing them to put the signs up to mark the no parking area they designated.

Bass Ackwards Jabberwocky.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

FYI: I fought this battle for no parking signs in our HOA. We instead opted for painted curbs instead of signs. We had to go to the city for them to create an ORDINANCE in order to APPLY the law of no parking in those areas. Plus go to the CODE department to change from signs to paint.

So think know a little about "No Parking" situations. There would need to be an ordinance with the city since the streets are PUBLIC. That is where I would start to find out how it's being applied to this specific area.

Former HOA President

EdC5 (Florida)
Posts: 117

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SteveM9 on 09/30/2019 5:48 AM
my guess is the hoa installed the signs 15 years ago. or the city installed them as a favor, but they are not legal. So if they are removed today, they might stay removed. If the hoa asks the city to put them back, the city will say, no, its a public street.

The signs are not necessarily "not legal"; I managed a community in central Florida where the road coming into the community was a public road (though the others were private), and at my request the county installed "no parking" signs along the road. (The association felt the road was too narrow to allow parking on the roadway.)

Edward J Cooke, CMCA, LCAM

DavidJ17 (Florida)
Posts: 47

Posted:

So nobody in favor of getting refund from City for improperly installed signs? That's what caused the car to park on the Public street, which caused the towing of the car.I'm only asking because there have been other questionable signs in our neighborhood.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'not legal'. I'm not sure of anything anymore. lol... I was informed if the sign had a sticker on the back with the Cities name, it was the Cities sign. Yes, there was a sticker on the back that said City of ……….

When you say curb, do you mean the curbs that are 3 inches high? If so, we don't have those.

Towing company made mistake but only followed what was highlighted on the map to tow, from HOA of 15 years ago. So HOA made mistake for highlighting Public street for towing.

HOA refunded money, but I still think the City might be somewhat responsible for not installing the signs right, unless, it may be possible that the HOA approved the signage, therefore, the HOA is totally responsible. I really don't know.

Of course, I could be wrong about the whole thing. lol... Both the City and the HOA have been informed that we have a street that our Condo requested to ban parking, and there is still room for 2 cars to park legally within that street.

PestY
Posts: 128

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MelissaP1 on 10/03/2019 4:54 AM
FYI: I fought this battle for no parking signs in our HOA. We instead opted for painted curbs instead of signs. We had to go to the city for them to create an ORDINANCE in order to APPLY the law of no parking in those areas. Plus go to the CODE department to change from signs to paint.

So think know a little about "No Parking" situations. There would need to be an ordinance with the city since the streets are PUBLIC. That is where I would start to find out how it's being applied to this specific area.

You do, indeed, 'know'.

THIS was clearly stated.

I stand by my comment regarding your PREVIOUS post.

PestY
Posts: 128

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DavidJ17 on 10/05/2019 9:44 AM
So nobody in favor of getting refund from City for improperly installed signs? That's what caused the car to park on the Public street, which caused the towing of the car.I'm only asking because there have been other questionable signs in our neighborhood.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'not legal'. I'm not sure of anything anymore. lol... I was informed if the sign had a sticker on the back with the Cities name, it was the Cities sign. Yes, there was a sticker on the back that said City of ……….

When you say curb, do you mean the curbs that are 3 inches high? If so, we don't have those.

Towing company made mistake but only followed what was highlighted on the map to tow, from HOA of 15 years ago. So HOA made mistake for highlighting Public street for towing.

HOA refunded money, but I still think the City might be somewhat responsible for not installing the signs right, unless, it may be possible that the HOA approved the signage, therefore, the HOA is totally responsible. I really don't know.

Of course, I could be wrong about the whole thing. lol... Both the City and the HOA have been informed that we have a street that our Condo requested to ban parking, and there is still room for 2 cars to park legally within that street.

All this hub-ub over ONE tow and ONE improper pair of signs !!! ??

Fix the signs - and do NOT let YOUR contractor (towing company) operate on a PUBLIC ROAD.

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