 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
July 2009
Categories
Posts |
Who hasn't gotten angry when they can't find parking, yet they see junk carks being stored on city streets? This summer the KING 5 Investigators started getting complaints about dozens of junk cars showing up in one Seattle neighborhood. Whenever neighbors would complain, Seattle Parking Enforcement would come out and slap on warning notices---move the cars within 72 hours or they will be towed. The cars would mysteriously move just before the tow truck arrived. Parking enforcement told the neighborhood residents they were likely the victims of a "car rancher" -- someone who owns a herd of cars and moves them around the city to avoid having them towed. Our challenge was finding out who the cars belonged to and why he or she would want so many cars. It wasn't hard to find the suspected "car rancher:" We just looked for all of the junk cars spilling out of the front yard, onto the parking strip and over four blocks of the neighborhood. We learned that James Rutherford lived at the home. And while we were fairly certain he owned the herd of junk cars, only a handful were registered to him. That's when we decided to collect license plates and see if the cars had been purchased at car auctions. Using state Department of Licensing records, we discovered that Rutherford had purchased more than 80 abandoned vehicles at auction over the past three years. He was reselling many of them. What he wasn't doing was transferring the title into his name as required by state law. And he wasn't operating with a dealer's license even though one is required if you buy and sell more than four cars in a year. When we confronted Rutherford, he didn't get angry or run from our cameras like many people do. He talked to us. He told us he buys cars to give away to friends and family. When we told him we had proof he was buying and selling abandoned cars, he acknowledged he was doing it to make money. But he tried to justify it as a community service: Offering cars to people at below dealer prices. As for taking up so much neighborhood parking -- his answer was "deal with it!" But Rutherford now has to deal with the state Department of Licensing. They've accused him of "curbstoning" which is against the law. If he continues, he will be fined $1,000 for each car he sells and that's more than most of his cars are worth. It turns out Seattle Parking Enforcement couldn't stop Rutherford even though they were trying! In Seattle there's no limit to how many cars one person can park on the street, as long as they are moved every three days. But the state can investigate whether illegal business activity is taking place and that's what's now happening At least this one neighborhood should finally get its parking back. And we've learned that the story doesn't always take you where you expect it to. 20 Comments |
Thanks for doing this story. The neighbor behind us always has a few junkers parked for days/weeks on the street behind our house. We have called to report him a few times and luckily he seems to be trying to keep them from sitting directly behind our property.
I wish they had a limit to how many warnings a car can get. If they knew they could get two warnings and the third time they got towed without warning, maybe that would help.
I have been trying to get two abandoned cars near my house towed since October. And these are not "car rancher" cars. The city of Seattle did put notices on them after my first call, but despite repeated calls and reports by me and by my neighbors, the SPD still has not towed these cars. I think that the towing thing is just an empty threat. The SPD claims that cars are towed in order of reports received, but I am beginning to doubt that since my first report was in October. Are they really two months behind in towing? Have there really been no cars towed since I filed my first report? These vehicles are causing a huge problem on my street. They block access to the side entrance to my house. They forced my roommate to park further up, which then blocked the mailboxes and none of my neighbors got mail for several days. She tried to move her car so that we could get mail but it was iced over (this was during the snow storm). At least 4 of us neighbors have reported these two cars. I had one neighbor file a complaint about the inaction of the SPD. I had another neighbor go to our local police station and talk to someone in person. I myself sent a letter to the mayor about the problem (he has not responded). I also contacted the Dept. of Licensing who sent me an email claiming that I could get a "abandoned vehicle report" from the SPD and then call a private tow company to take them away. But if that were a possibility, then why did the SPD tell me that there was no way that I could get a private company to tow abandoned vehicles (when I asked the person from the SPD that I got on the phone last year when they still answered their phone in person). I am going to follow up with that, but if that is all it took then everyone could do that and get these cars towed, right? I am just so frustrated and I am at my wits end over this problem.
loans star wars a new hope gout marshmello hibiscus t.i what you know about that lyrics real arcade bounce with it lean with it thierry meiuglar thai spicy beef noodle salad jaquelinlawson