The city of Mobile towed away its first two inoperable vehicles under a new municipal ordinance, marking the initial enforcement action since the rule was adopted earlier this year to make it easier to remove derelict cars from private property.
Passed in May, the ordinance allows the city to ticket, and eventually remove, vehicles that are found to be inoperable if they sit in public view for an extended period. Under the rule, a vehicle parked in the same spot for 30 days triggers a ticket, with both the property owner and vehicle owner notified. If the vehicle still hasn’t been moved after another 30 days, the city dispatches a wrecker service from its rotating list to tow it to an impound lot. A lien is then placed on the vehicle, and after 60 days in impound, it goes up for auction. Any proceeds beyond the cost of impoundment are returned to the vehicle’s listed owner.
David Daughenbaugh, deputy director of municipal enforcement, said city officials have been preparing for enforcement since the ordinance passed. He said the first warning notices, yellow stickers created by the mayor’s Innovation Team, went out over the summer, and the two vehicles towed were originally noticed back in September. Daughenbaugh said several other flagged vehicles have already been moved voluntarily by their owners.
Before the new ordinance, the city could only address inoperable vehicles through its litter ordinance, a process that required cases to move through the court system. Daughenbaugh said that approach sometimes produced a conviction without actually resolving the underlying problem, leaving residents to continue living next to a junk car. The new ordinance is designed to give residents faster relief when an inoperable vehicle is left in public view, he said, adding that “public view” includes vehicles parked in backyards that remain visible to the public or to neighbors.
James Barber, executive director of public safety for the city, said the priority is “voluntary compliance,” meaning the goal is for owners to move cited vehicles before towing becomes necessary. If a vehicle does end up at the city’s impound lot, Barber said, the owner faces at least $125 in fees plus additional storage costs.
Mayor Sandy Stimpson called the first towing a milestone for the city and said the ordinance would help address the roughly 800 complaints Mobile received about junk cars in 2017. Daughenbaugh told Stimpson the city expects to issue citations on somewhere between 100 and 200 vehicles during the ordinance’s first year.
“I know a lot of citizens are happy to see these dilapidated cars out of their neighborhoods,” Stimpson said at a press conference announcing the towing. “It’s a big day.”
State Rep. Adline Clarke, who helped pass the local legislation enabling Mobile to adopt the ordinance, told Stimpson she was glad to see it move forward, noting that junk cars can create a “health and safety issue” for surrounding neighborhoods.