City Warns Parking Scofflaws to Pay Up or Lose Their Cars

You know who you are. The tension must be really weighing on you by now. After all, every time you park in Pasadena you worry that your car won’t be there when you return. Why? Because you have five or more unpaid parking tickets and you know the Pasadena Department of Transportation is looking for you, ready to haul your car off to an impound lot until you pay up.

But the folks at Transportation don’t want that to happen. They say they would rather help ease your burden by getting you to come forward, get right with the law and pay up now, before your car is found and towed away and you have to pay even more just to get it back. 

Department officials have a list of more than 650 license plates of cars whose owners owe a minimum of $362 in parking fines, and the parking enforcement team is constantly on the lookout for them, cruising the streets, looking at plates.

Scofflaws have good reason to worry, because it’s not a question of if they’ll be found, just when, because enforcement has been stepped up.

Since July 2011, the department has found and impounded 212 vehicles – 182 of those just since the first of this year – and the benefit to the city budget and the public services it pays for is worth the extra effort, as enforcers have recovered more than $190,000 in delinquent fees. 

Still think it’s worth the risk to try to avoid the parking enforcement team?OK.Let’s add it up.You already owe at least $362.Getting your car back from the impound lot will cost all your outstanding fines plus a few extra fees:a $150 tow fee (or a $125 “drop” fee if you happen to arrive as the tow truck is getting ready to haul your car away); vehicle storage fees of $35 – $55 per day; and a $134 release fee to Pasadena Police.

So if you’re ready to pay up and breathe easy again, come to Pasadena City Hall, Room N106, during regular business hours.And be sure to pay for parking when you do.