How Long Does it Take for an Abandoned Car to Get Towed?

This green Ford Windstar minivan has been parked in the same spot on East 17th Street near Newkirk Avenue for at least a month. It’s clearly been abandoned: it’s got a flat tire, and the license plates and registration sticker have been removed. So how has it sat there for so long without getting towed?

The answer might be pretty simple. That side of the street has alternate side parking enforced on Mondays. Because of the snow, ASP regulations were suspended on February 11, then they were suspended again for Presidents’ Day on February 18. If the minivan has been there just for the month of February, that makes only two chances for it to have been noticed, if traffic enforcement was out. If it’s been there longer than that, well, then someone really should have caught it by now and done something.

We’ve filed a service request with 311, so hopefully that will get the car removed, and get another parking space back for people in this area.

UPDATE, 7pm
We got a response from 311 earlier this afternoon: “Your Service Request was closed. The Police Department responded to the complaint and determined that police action was not necessary.”

We passed by after receiving that response, and saw that the minivan is still in the same spot. Off to file another request…