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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Costa Mesa Confiscates Personal Property |
| 2009-02-03 |
| I normally do not post on websites or blogs but at this point in time I am so anguished by what my daughter is going through that I have to express it to someone. My daughter is a student at Orange Coast College. She has a little apartment in Costa Mesa on an alley. Her car was "impounded" by the City of Costa Mesa because her vehicle registration was expired. Something most cities write a ticket for and levy a small fine if you show up with the registration renewal. How did a police man get down in that alley and find her car? He would have known from the police computer that the owner was a early twenties girl living on her own. My daughter pays for her school with a Governor's grant from the State and by working part time as a waitress in Newport Beach. She does not have much money. I am not in a financial position to contribute much more than a tank of gas occasionally and an odd $100 every so often. The City of Costa Mesa wanted more money than my daughter had to pay the impound fees, by the time she got the money together, it was over $1000 for three weeks plus her car insurance had expired. The City of Costa Mesa wants to auction off her car if she does not come up with the money by the end of this week. I think the end game here is that the City of Costa Mesa really wants the car and makes the impound fees so high that students and people who are having a hard time making ends meet will walk away from the car. My daughters car is a little Mercedes 230 hatchback that she got a great deal on after her Plymouth Breeze was totaled by a woman running a red light. Mercedes Benz gave her 0% financing and a great price on the little car because it was a lease unwind. The payments on it are less than they would have been on the Toyota Corolla she went to the dealer to buy in the first place. She is not some pampered Orange County princess, she is a good kid working her butt off to get through school. So my daughter is giving money to the City of Costa Mesa that could be better spent on her schooling. The City is generating funds preying on people who are on limited incomes and seizing property and selling it for a traffic offense that just about every city in California writes a ticket for NOT IMPOUND THE CAR. I have to say that last night was a hard night for me, watching my daughter cry her eyes out, just scared to death of losing her car and her means to earn a livelihood. She and I have managed to scratch together the last of the money the City is demanding, unless of course they pull some other fees or surcharge out of their butt to keep the car long enough to auction it. Scratching together means I have to skip a car payment and my daughter has to borrow money from her boss and her friends and live on oatmeal for a month. How do you auction off a $15,000 car for a $1300 bill? Does the owner get the balance of the proceeds or does the city keep it all? As I said I am so outraged by this practice that I feel as if I have to express my anguish over this to someone. I am writing a letter to the Mayor of Costa Mesa, and you know what the response to that will be. This is just another way that politicians in come cities in California have adopted practices to raise money that prey on citizens through outrageous fines, fees and police state thuggery. If any of you astute readers out there have a suggestion or know of some recourse I might have to recover my daughter's money. I would appreciate a note. |
| Posted by:James Carville |
| #12 Leave California NOW (unless you are a liberal). |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-02-03 23:20 |
| #11 CA State Deficit is so big and so bad that State Govt. Politicians and US CongressCritters may try to LEGISLATIVELY BLOCK OR DIRECT PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS, etc., or DIVERT TO THE STATE GOVT COFFERS BEFORE "DISTRIBUTION/DISSEMINATION" TO SAME [read, IFF ANY = LEGISLAT "DELAY"]. Trickster-eenies. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-02-03 22:53 |
| #10 CNN + CNBC > California's State Deficit of US$40.0Bilyuhn is so huge that even iff the Congress passed any of the proposed STIMULUS BILLS, THE AVERAGE STIMULUS AMOUNT CA-SPECIFIC LEGAL RESIDENTS MAY RECEIVE WOULD NOT MAKE A DENT IN REDUCING THE STATE DEFICIT, and in fact may be held back by the STATE GOVT = SACRAMENTO + GOVERNATOR IN ORDER TO JUST TRY OR ATTEMPT TO CATCH UP ON ITS DEFICIT [Best-Case > ONLY A MINOR TOTAL DEFICIT REDUX]??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-02-03 22:46 |
| #9 Make sure your daughter graduates and then gets a good job, and her taxes, out of state. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-02-03 21:42 |
| #8 James, as a former parking enforcement ossifer....don't bother with the mayor. He/she/it probably won't even read it, has no interest in the matter and most likely has no authority in that area. (Most mayors are basically trotted out for ceremonial crap...the real bizness is covered by city managers and staff.) Find out who is in charge of that towing detail. Write the sergeant/captain, whatever. CC the chief. Ask them as nicely as you can stomach about the circumstances of your daughter's tow. Maybe everything wasn't followed to the letter and they can cut her a break. Hell, maybe everything was, and they still might (yeah, yeah, yeah youse guys....believe me, it did happen when we got someone who didn't start screaming about their civil rights being violated and how we were all Nazis.) We were so shocked to deal with a mature adult that we decided to be nice the four times it occurred. Couldn't hurt to try. Don't bother with Besoeker's suggestion. It will only put them on the defensive and they will enforce every tiny detail of the law if the media is there. You don't want your daughter to be an example to others now, do you? That's what they will do if you trot out there, steaming mad, with Eyewitness Newz in your wake. Best of luck to you guys and hope it ends well. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-02-03 21:38 |
| #7 it is 6 months and not 90 days...you can drive your car up to six months and all it is a fix it ticket. After 6 months they will impound -- driving or parked. I routinely drive up to the very last day of the 5th month :)...welcome tho the rebublic of kalifornia |
| Posted by: Dan 2009-02-03 21:14 |
| #6 Frank G. is correct. I had an old truck that got impounded on this. Buying the tag & paying the fine is bad enough, but leaving it in impound for more than a day or two is where they side swipe you and run up the charges. Your daughter is between a rock and a hard spot unfortunately. Was the alley public or private property ? If it was a city alley, there's not much you can do except pay. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 2009-02-03 21:08 |
| #5 JC - any car found operating or parked on a city street with an expired reg past 90 days is routinely impounded in CA. It's not just Costa Mesa |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-02-03 20:55 |
| #4 B- Be careful about inviting Californians to move to your state. They're known to screw up well run economies. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2009-02-03 19:57 |
| #3 On a more serious note, I'd contact local TV and media outlets and invite them go along with cameras rolling when you go in to pay the fine. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-02-03 19:42 |
| #2 The State of Georgia has a liberal immigration policy for California residents, plenty of value for your housing dollar, excellent colleges, a good supply of used cars, and we pay only an initial vehicle registration. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-02-03 19:35 |
| #1 California Department of Motor Vehicles is probably the most unpopular of a state bureaucracies. I never understood why a car has to be registered every year except that it's an opportunity for the state to collect an extra tax. You register the car when you buy it. That should be enough but not in California. But even if the registration is expired it shouldn't be more than a fine, not an impound. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-02-03 19:22 |