The Daily Agenda: Score one for local journalism

A Star reporter dug into a predatory towing company ... Tucson City Council approved new ordinance a year later … Retracing Coronado's journey.

If you want to understand the importance of local journalism, look no further than the City of Tucson’s new ordinance cracking down on predatory towing companies. 

By late last year, Tucsonans were fed up with a local towing company cruising around town looking for drivers who’d parked illegally on private property, even if there weren’t any signs showing where they weren’t allowed to park.

Those tows brought in big bucks for A & B Towing. They also led to more than 200 complaints to the Tucson Police Department. Arizona Daily Star reporter Carol Ann Alaimo dug through the complaints, checked public records, made the phone calls, and wrote a story in September 2022 shedding light on the company’s predatory practices.

“A Tucson towing firm accused by critics of seizing parked vehicles for no apparent reason and charging hundreds of dollars to return them is adding to the workload of the city’s short-staffed police department, public records show,” Alaimo wrote. 

The complaints in the story were egregious. Some of the people who filed complaints said their cars were towed for no reason from their assigned spots at apartment complexes. Many said they were stranded when A & B Towing refused to return their cars if they didn’t pay. That led to reports of assaults, threats, and other problems at the company’s impound lot, Alaimo reported.

The news story set in motion a chain of events that culminated with the Tucson City Council approving a new ordinance at their Nov. 14 meeting. 

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Back in September 2022, the news story caught the eye of Councilman Kevin Dahl, who started the process of cracking down on predatory towing companies. He wasn’t the only one on the council upset over what the story revealed. When the council members discussed it at a study session in December 2022, Dahl found support among his colleagues for coming up with a new ordinance.

Over the next several months, Dahl and the staff at the City Attorney’s Office reached out to dozens of towing companies, checked what other cities had done, and came up with a new ordinance.

So what changes did Alaimo’s story lead to?

Jennifer Bonham of the City Attorney’s Office used a hypothetical situation, based on real complaints, to illustrate what the new ordinance would do at the council’s Aug. 8 meeting.

You drive over to your friend’s apartment complex on a Saturday evening and park in front of your friend’s unit, even though you’re not allowed to park there, so you can help them unload boxes. You move the boxes into the apartment, but when you walk back to your car around 10 p.m. your car is not there anymore, Bonham said.

You don’t know where your car is or who you should call, so you call 911. The officer says your car was towed. You call the towing company, but nobody answers. So you leave a message and your friend drives you to the impound lot to see if you can get your car back.

When you get there, the gate’s locked and the business is closed. So you decide to go home. You call in the morning and the person who answers says you can’t pick up your car until Monday morning. They also say you owe a $220 towing fee and a storage fee for Saturday and Sunday.

Under the old rules, you’d be out of luck.

Under the new ordinance, when you first notice your car is gone, you call the tow company’s phone number, which is on a clearly marked sign, and somebody answers the phone. They tell you where your car is and say you have three hours to come pick it up. You know how much it will cost because the fees are posted on the sign.

If you want to pay later or dispute the charges, the impound lot employee gives you an invoice and you can be on your way with your car. When Monday rolls around, you can ask the towing company to send you a photo of your car when it was towed as proof you did in fact park illegally, Bonham said.

If the towing company does not have adequate signage, nobody to answer the phone, isn’t open for three hours after the tow, or doesn’t have a photo of the violation, they can be charged with a misdemeanor and a fine, Bonham said.

There you have it, dear reader. A diligent reporter, along with elected officials willing to put in the work and a police department that keeps good records, turned the tables on a predatory company.

Not bad for a single news story.

Chopping from the top: As the University of Arizona deals with a budget crisis, cuts are going to disproportionately affect the UA’s administration, UA President Robert C. Robbins said. He noted that spending at the president’s office has grown faster than any other administrative unit, the Arizona Daily Star’s Ellie Wolfe reports. 

New direction: After a fraudulent sober living scam led to 250 people being put out onto the streets in October, the managers of the Ocotillo Hotel and Apartments told a judge they plan to convert the building into low-income housing, the Arizona Luminaria’s Carolina Cuellar reports. Officials said many of the units in the building were no longer fit for humans to live in. Once the building is back up to code, the owners said they are planning to use it for Section 8 housing.

The Reid Park Zoo has a new zebra, Zuri. Another zebra, Anna, is pregnant. They are Grevy’s zebras, the most endangered zebra species in the world.

Weigh in on magistrate: The City of Tucson Magistrates Merit Selection Commission is asking for public comment on the reappointment of City Magistrate Julia A. Maldonado. Comments should be submitted in writing by Dec. 18 to the City Clerk’s Office at P.O. Box 27210, Tucson, AZ 85726-7210.

Retracing history: An archeologist in Santa Cruz County is revealing the journey of 16th-century conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado through Arizona, the Nogales International's Angela Gervasi reports. Since Deni Seymour first discovered a nail and horseshoe at the Tubac Historical Society in 2020, she’s uncovered several other sites in Southern Arizona linked to Coronado. Her work will be featured in a documentary Dec. 9 at the Oasis Theater in Nogales.

Hear from the candidates: Voters will get a chance to hear from the eight candidates vying to replace retired District 3 Supervisor Sharon Bronson on the Pima County Board of Supervisors at a virtual public forum, the Star’s Charles Borla reports. No date has been set, but the forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson, should happen before the Dec. 19 deadline for the supervisors to appoint Bronson’s replacement. 

Christmas science: The joy of giving presents isn’t just in your heart; it also can be seen in your brain, according to Jessica Andrews-Hanna, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology. She spoke with UA News’ Niranjana Rajalakshmi about brain images showing the act of giving activates core areas associated with reward and pleasure. But not if you stress too much about the holiday season.

83: The high temperature in Tucson on Wednesday, one degree away from setting a record.