I am VERY upset, and I need information and cooperation.
We have 2 very old cars. We do not have a garage. My car is a 1983 Toyota Corolla Wagon, silver, with a black hood (because it was stolen many years ago and I retreived it and had it put back together and we never painted the hood). It has current plates and city sticker and was parked legally on Greenview in front of the six flat that Yonan's live in -- 4534-36. Sometimes I don't drive it for many days at a time, often because I am working at home, and because it can no longer do the expressway. Never mind my driving habits. The point is that it is MY car, it is always legally parked and it is currently licensed.
We came home this evening to find crayon writing on the windows that said ''Abandoned Car Tow requested 9/27 #431.'' I called the 19th district, and they said I was not on any tow list (they ran my plate). The police also told me that it is not customary for the police to write on the car with crayons, that that is usually done by a tow truck driver. They (the police) have no order to tow the car and said they would not do that if the car is legally registered and parked. So, then, how did this get there and who might come try to tow my car?
I called a couple of my immediate neighbors and learned that there was a time when people here were regularly calling and having abandoned cars towed. My neighbor said that the tow truck might look for it even if I moved it down the street. This made me hysterical because my car will be damaged if it is towed. (It is old but I love it.)
So I am now frantically looking for somewhere to put it outside the neighborhood overnight or for a couple days until I can find out who called, whom they called, and how to stop it.
I also want to make sure that this does not happen again. For all the years I lived in Lincoln Park, where the houses are much more expensive than here, I would sometimes leave this car in the same spot for two or three weeks and this NEVER happened. I might have to move it because of street cleaning but not because some nosy neighbor took it upon themselves to decide they didn't like the looks of it! They had enough sense to know it belonged to their neighbor.
I am furious about this. In the year I have lived here, my car has been broken into 3 times, and now this. Obviously it is not the fault of my neighbors that the car was broken into -- that's vandalism. However, THIS was obviously initiated by one of my neighbors, and I am really upset about it. I don't want to have to be hypervigilant about parking my car and making sure someone's aesthetics isn't offended. Parking is hard enough to find here. This is not making me feel welcome or secure in this neighborhood, and I have attempted to be a good neighbor to others.
So, my car is: Toyota Corolla wagon 1983 silver with black hood & bike rack\
Lic # TMH181
Now, I really want to know from the person who called some tow company, whom they called so that I can make sure that a tow order is stopped. I understand that it was possibly a mistake, that the car does look a bit raggedy, and so someone might assume it was abandoned if it sits there a long time. Perhaps it was not malicious. I would hope not. But I need to get to the bottom of this, and I need to feel that I can park my car without worrying about it.
By Linda Strothman
We have 2 very old cars. We do not have a garage. My car is a 1983 Toyota Corolla Wagon, silver, with a black hood (because it was stolen many years ago and I retreived it and had it put back together and we never painted the hood). It has current plates and city sticker and was parked legally on Greenview in front of the six flat that Yonan's live in -- 4534-36. Sometimes I don't drive it for many days at a time, often because I am working at home, and because it can no longer do the expressway. Never mind my driving habits. The point is that it is MY car, it is always legally parked and it is currently licensed.
We came home this evening to find crayon writing on the windows that said ''Abandoned Car Tow requested 9/27 #431.'' I called the 19th district, and they said I was not on any tow list (they ran my plate). The police also told me that it is not customary for the police to write on the car with crayons, that that is usually done by a tow truck driver. They (the police) have no order to tow the car and said they would not do that if the car is legally registered and parked. So, then, how did this get there and who might come try to tow my car?
I called a couple of my immediate neighbors and learned that there was a time when people here were regularly calling and having abandoned cars towed. My neighbor said that the tow truck might look for it even if I moved it down the street. This made me hysterical because my car will be damaged if it is towed. (It is old but I love it.)
So I am now frantically looking for somewhere to put it outside the neighborhood overnight or for a couple days until I can find out who called, whom they called, and how to stop it.
I also want to make sure that this does not happen again. For all the years I lived in Lincoln Park, where the houses are much more expensive than here, I would sometimes leave this car in the same spot for two or three weeks and this NEVER happened. I might have to move it because of street cleaning but not because some nosy neighbor took it upon themselves to decide they didn't like the looks of it! They had enough sense to know it belonged to their neighbor.
I am furious about this. In the year I have lived here, my car has been broken into 3 times, and now this. Obviously it is not the fault of my neighbors that the car was broken into -- that's vandalism. However, THIS was obviously initiated by one of my neighbors, and I am really upset about it. I don't want to have to be hypervigilant about parking my car and making sure someone's aesthetics isn't offended. Parking is hard enough to find here. This is not making me feel welcome or secure in this neighborhood, and I have attempted to be a good neighbor to others.
So, my car is: Toyota Corolla wagon 1983 silver with black hood & bike rack\
Lic # TMH181
Now, I really want to know from the person who called some tow company, whom they called so that I can make sure that a tow order is stopped. I understand that it was possibly a mistake, that the car does look a bit raggedy, and so someone might assume it was abandoned if it sits there a long time. Perhaps it was not malicious. I would hope not. But I need to get to the bottom of this, and I need to feel that I can park my car without worrying about it.
By Linda Strothman
