City is hurting for money

Image by akseabird via Flickr

On Thursdays I have a mandated meeting to attend for persons with Bi-Polar disorder and this Thursday is no different except I planned on arriving on-time for a change. Because it's not by choice that I go to this meeting I tend to procrastinate getting ready and leaving so as a result I'm always late.

This Thursday, I knew I needed to trim my hair and take a shower, so I purposefully started thirty minutes earlier than usual. No problem in the shower but trimming my hair was a problem. Between the clippers not working so well and the plug constantly falling out of the receptacle doing my hair took longer than expected. By the time I left the house it was the usual time that I leave which means I would be late again.

It was pouring down rain as I'm leaving the house and jogging towards the street to get into the shelter of my car but my car was not where I left it. I was sure I parked it in front of the house but decided to look down the side street in both directions just in case. I'm getting drenched walking around looking for my car and after a few minutes I conclude that someone must have stolen it.

One thing for sure is that I got out of going to my meeting but this is a bad way of getting out of it for sure.

I called the police to report it stolen and they went take the information over the phone so they have to send an officer out to take the report, more standing out in the rain, well I guess I could invite him in but having the long arm of the law in your place isn't always the first thing on the to-do list. No worries though, after the person on the phone returned from running my plates she informed me that my car was towed because of expired tags.

Wow, the city couldn't just issue a citation, they had to tow the car. Unbelievable.

I called the impound yard for the cost to reclaim my car it was $199. for the tow and $32. for storage. But I wouldn't be able to pick up the car because it needed to be registered first. Here is my problem. The car was written off as a loss by the insurance company after a minor accident. I sent the money in for the registration but got a letter back stating that I would need to apply for a Salvage Certificate and to get one of those the car needs to be inspected to determine its road worthiness. I have not had the money to do that so the tags are outdated.

So the lady at the tow yard informs me that I need to go to the D.M.V. and request a moving permit, and then I could pick-up the car on Friday for $243.00.

How stupid is all this, the city towing cars for expired tags? I guess in a down economy they get creative. I suppose issuing a ticket only would just boost the cities coffers but by having it towed it keeps them guys earning a living as well.