Murrysville, Pennsylvania — 20 people at Franklin Regional Senior High School were stabbed by a student. Many of the wounded didn’t even know what had happened. “They just felt pain and noticed they were bleeding,” said Dr. Timothy VanFleet, chief of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Category: crime
bookmark_borderAggressive Towing In Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA – February 24, 2014 (Reprint of WPVI story featuring our PhilaNet.com reporter) — We’ve heard horror stories of people’s cars being moved into illegal spots by tow truck drivers, vehicles held ransom for hundreds of dollars, and major damage done in the towing process.
In the city where the reality show ‘Parking Wars’ was made famous, we’re exposing the unwritten rules for parking in Philadelphia. Here’s what you should know before you snag what you think is that perfect parking spot.
“They (George Smith Towing) started towing it down the street. There were sparks flying, it was a crazy loud racket,” said Daniel Brouse.
Brouse is a freelance photographer who has been tracking one of the city’s top tow companies on candid camera.
“When I started filming them, they threatened my life,” said Brouse.
His go-to spot was behind the Piazza at Schmidt’s in Northern Liberties.
“I thought he was a car thief the way he was breaking into the car,” said Brouse. “And then I saw him hook up a tow truck to the vehicle.”
Theft is exactly how Philadelphia Councilman Jim Kenney describes towing in the city.
“They should be arrested because they’re stealing the car. There’s no difference between a tow truck operator taking a car from the curb illegally and a guy hot-wiring it and stealing it,” Kenney said.
The history of aggressive and illegal towing is notorious in the City of Brotherly Love.
“Clearly there are no city signs that say that you cannot park here,” said Jadi Gonzalez.
Surveillance video shows within 14 minutes of Gonzalez parking her car on a city street, a private tow truck driver picks it up – and, she says, doing thousands of dollars of damage to the vehicle.
“They said, ‘You have pictures, you have surveillance. So just take us to court,'” Gonzalez said. And then, she said, they “hung up on me.”
“I mean, it’s really hazardous to park here even legally,” said Mike Williams.
Williams says his car was not just illegally towed, he says it was moved from his permitted spot in Center City Philadelphia.
“Basically they just lied about where we were parked, since we were in a convenient spot for towing. They just decided to tow us,” said Williams.
Action News obtained a list from the Philadelphia Parking Authority of the places where the most tickets are issued for towable offenses.
We’ve created this interactive map, to alert drivers about the hot spots for aggressive towing in the city.
Third on the list is the 1600 block of Market Street, where nearly 3,000 tickets were written for towable offenses in the last 14 months.
The corner of 13th and Walnut Street comes in second on our list for towing violations.
The top spot in the city is the 100 block of Chestnut Street in Old City, where nearly 5,500 towing tickets have been issued since January 2013.
While the majority of these tows may be legal, Councilman Kenney describes the entire towing system in Philadelphia as “the wild West. There’s an industry out there that thinks they have the ability to take advantage of people and steal their cars and hold them hostage for a ransom to get them back,” said Kenney.
The councilman says there are some important things drivers should know:
Only the Philadelphia Parking Authority can tow from a city street. The only place private companies can tow from is private property.
Your car DOES NOT have to be ticketed to be towed.
Towing companies can only charge you $175 for the tow, and $25 for each 24 hours of storage. It is illegal for them to charge any fees on top of that.
A private towing company has to take a picture of your car before they tow it, and provide a copy at no charge
“Unless the government is protecting them in some way by locking up the guys who stole their car, or by shutting the business that stole their car, nothing’s going to change,” Kenney said.
The biggest problem is there is really little recourse for drivers. Councilman Kenney says no one, not the police or L&I which regulates towing, is cracking down on illegal towing in Philadelphia. He is trying to change that.
Councilman Kenney says for now all a driver can do if his or her car is missing is call 9-1-1 and report the vehicle as stolen – or sue the towing company.
bookmark_borderCity Employees Under Investigation
Following an investigation, Philadelphia Inspector General Amy Kurland announced that 13 Assistant Recreation Leaders in the Department of Parks and Recreation have been terminated or have resigned for violating the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter by improperly working for other government agencies while being employed by the City of Philadelphia.
“Every City employee must follow the rules and be held accountable when they do not,” said Mayor Michael A. Nutter. “I’m pleased that the Inspector General’s Office is stepping up enforcement of this Charter provision and ensuring that it is being applied fairly and consistently across City departments.”
Of the 13 employees, ten are full-time school teachers, two are U.S. Postal Service workers and one is a Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office investigator. Their terminations from City employment do not affect these full-time jobs. Section 8-301 of the Home Rule Charter forbids City employees in most circumstances from holding a “position of profit” with another government agency, including a second job. Civil Service Regulation 33.022 also prohibits dual employment with other government agencies.
The thirteen employees all worked as permanent, part-time Assistant Recreation Leaders, assisting in the management of different City recreation centers, while holding full-time jobs for other government agencies. Many of the School District employees worked part time for the City during the school year and added extra hours during the summer.
The investigation into dual employment among City employees, which the Office of Inspector General began in March at the request of the Department of Parks and Recreation, is part of a new initiative to step up enforcement of the Charter provision and make sure it is applied fairly across the City.
“Our City’s underfunded municipal pension system is one of the biggest challenges Philadelphia faces,” Inspector General Kurland said. “The dual-employment prohibition is an important tool to prevent people who already have a government job from looking to the City for a second pension.”
Before recommending the terminations, the OIG requested and received, an official Solicitor opinion from the Law Department, which clarified that the dual-employment provision applies to all permanent City employees, including those who work only part time. The Inspector General’s Office also worked with Michael DiBerardinis, Deputy Mayor for Environmental and Community Resources, who issued a notice to Parks and Recreation staff over the summer reminding them of the dual-employment prohibitions.
The Inspector General’s Office is continuing to investigate dual-employment violations and has also asked City Controller Alan Butkovitz to participate in a joint investigation and City-wide audit to improve enforcement.
The relevant City Charter provision and Civil Service Regulation are included below for reference:
Charter Section 8-301 – Other Offices or Positions: Except as otherwise provided in this charter, no person shall hold more than one office or position of profit, whether elective or appointive, under the City and no such person shall hold such office or position while holding any other office or position of profit in or under the government of the United States, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or of any county, city or other political subdivision thereof, other than the office of notary public, any office in the military or naval service of the United States or of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or any ex officio office held by virtue of another office or position.
Civil Service Regulation 33.022 – Other Governmental Positions: Except as otherwise provided in the City Charter, no employee shall hold any other office or position of profit in or under the government of the United States, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or of any county, city or other political subdivision thereof.