5.48.010 Legislative findings and determination.
The city council finds and determines that:
A. The operations of radio dispatched tow truck services that, on a contract basis, make periodic patrols of the parking facilities of large apartment and multifamily residential complexes to locate and tow away or impound illegally or improperly parked motor vehicles, while providing a useful service to the property owners or lessees in question and/or their apartment managers, have resulted in numerous complaints to the city from residents concerning the methods employed and the substantial fees charged, and have led to an inordinate number of public disturbances and serious altercations requiring the response of city public safety officers.
B. Many of the citizen complaints received by the city council at the several public hearings held concerning this matter have indicated that many of the problems from these contract-patrol tow truck operations have been caused in large part by:
1. The general lack of adequate notice or warning concerning parking regulations and the serious consequences of violation to vehicle drivers who may park in improper places;
2. The lack of personal involvement from the apartment owners or managers in connection with the vehicle impoundment so as to preclude any input concerning pertinent facts or variable situations which might affect the impound process; and
3. The apparent swiftness of the entire impoundment procedure which often results in the towing of vehicles parked improperly for only very brief periods and no effective process to dispute the towing of a vehicle, but only the remedy of an immediate large cash payment to retrieve one’s vehicle and avoid an actual towing at considerable additional expense.
C. That prior to the commencement of such contract-patrol towing operations in the city, the public safety department had received few, if any, complaints concerning the towing of motor vehicles from private property. (Ord. 84-1 § 1, 1984)