Confounded towing

Construction is a fact of life in a dynamic city, and sometimes parking rules have to be adjusted in order to accommodate work.

But if Columbus officials plan to continue to allow contractors to tow private vehicles so that work can proceed, the process needs to be tightly controlled. This should go without saying, but the city needs to mark clearly where people can't park, and, barring that, it should make absolutely sure that the owners are notified somehow if their cars must be moved.

What happened to one local couple shouldn't be allowed to happen again.

One late July night, Andrew and Stacey Dorr parked their car on Marconi Boulevard, near Spring Street, to attend a Columbus Clippers game in the Arena District. They parked in a spot they had used before for games.

Kokosing Construction has been resurfacing Downtown streets this summer. Workers moved the Dorrs' vehicle and 20 others that night. And at least in the case of the Dorrs' vehicle, everything that could go wrong did.

Columbus has rules that are supposed to warn people not to park in construction zones, and to make sure police know what's become of cars that contractors have towed. Somehow, officials acknowledge, the system didn't work in this case.

reprinted with permission of The Columbus Dispatch, copyright 2010

• Legislator: Bill would address predatory towing practices, protect consumersThe Daily Reporter, February 01, 2010
• Stolen car costs owner $5,827.68.Cincinnati.com, September 22, 2009
• Editorial: Too little oversightColumbus Dispatch, June 17, 2009
• Dicey towing under reviewColumbus Dispatch, June 8, 2009
• Towing operator charged in scamColumbus Dispatch, October 23, 2007
• Tow-truck driver guilty of reckless homicideColumbus Dispatch, February 24, 2006
• Heavy-wrecker truck operator on trial in death of OSU studentColumbus Dispatch, February 22, 2006
• Bill would impose more stringent tow penaltiesDayton Daily News, April 28, 2004
• Man sentenced in tow-truck deathColumbus Dispatch, April 25, 2006
• The towing mazeToledo Blade, January 25, 2005
• Tow-truck operators lack city oversightColumbus Dispatch, August 7, 2005
• Off the hook Columbus Dispatch, August 15, 2005

Articles have been reprinted with permission of The Blade of Toledo and the Columbus Dispatch.

Dayton Daily News article titled "Bill would impose more stringent tow penalties," April 28, 2004. Copyright Dayton Newspapers, Inc., all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

5 days later, couple find car that vanished

For a Monday-night Clippers game last month, Andrew Dorr drove to his usual Downtown parking spot - Marconi Boulevard near Spring Street.

But when he and his wife, Stacey, returned to the spot at 10:15 p.m., their Nissan Maxima was gone.

The Dorrs checked the police impounding lot Tuesday to see whether it had been towed there. It hadn't.

They reported the car stolen to Columbus police and filed a claim with their insurance company. Then Mr. Dorr called 311 to see whether the city had any ideas.

An operator told him that construction companies sometimes move cars. That revelation eventually led the Dorrs to their Maxima - five days after it went missing and with two parking tickets on the windshield.

"It was such a bizarre week of not knowing what happened," Mr. Dorr said. "If it would have just been towed to the impounding lot, at least I would have known what happened to it."

Columbus has rules that are supposed to warn people not to park in construction zones, and to make sure police know what's become of cars that contractors have towed. Somehow, officials acknowledge, the system didn't work in this case.

reprinted with permission of The Columbus Dispatch, copyright 2010