Dear Tom, Ray, and fellow hour-wasters,
My name is David, and I just moved to Dorchester last week. I’ve never lived in New England before, much less Boston! I’m from the state of South Carolina, but will be here for the next year working as an AmeriCorps intern through an organization called TechMission.
I’m explaining all of this so that you know where I’m coming from, and that I’m not a stupid nut (I hear Tom laughing in the background).
I had work orientation last Thursday and Friday, and had my first day of actual work this Monday. Today I go into work and 1 & 1/2 hours later, one of my co-workers suddenly looks up and says “what side of the street did you park on today? It’s street cleaning day.”
I grabbed my keys and ran outside just in time to see the street cleaner go by. On the same side of the street that my car used to be parked on.
Some carpenters saw me looking around and asked if I was the owner of the Toyota Corolla. They tried to help, and keep my car from being towed, but no luck. The kind guy handed me a business card of the towing company.
I headed down to Hyde Park after work with a colleague and picked up my car, after paying $110.
Welcome to Boston, David.
This is a 2001 Toyota Corolla. I’m pretty sure I had the parking brake on, and yet, I’m also pretty sure that when I got into the vehicle at the tow place, that the parking brake was disengaged.
So, aside from not being told by my colleagues about street cleaning, paying $110, and getting ready to dish out some more moola to the city of Boston for my brightly colored ticket, I’ve had a great day. How was yours?
And how do you think my car turned out? Does towing hurt a car?
- David
There is a show on some channel http://www.aetv.com/parking-wars/ , fun watch, I have to think they know what they are doing to avoid damage lawsuits.
You might as well be talking to the wall. Tom and Ray never come here. They are only on the radio.
You don’t NEED a car in Boston…Yours will survive. These guys are pros. They opened your car and released the brake. They probably used a tilting bed truck to tow it on…
The only other thing that I was / am worried about:
What about the fact that my car was in Park? I mean, I know this stuff happens all the time, but I’d kinda like to understand the mechanics behind it - how does THAT work, and not hurt the transmission and such?
Thanks for the responses. The funny thing is, as I was walking out of the door, I had my bike helmet in hand and turned around and said “I’m going to take my car today because it looks like it’s going to rain.”
The reason I brought my car here was
a) so I could move my things here and
b) because this part of Dorchester has bad public transit, and my supervisor and housemates encouraged it. It would’ve taken me 45 minutes to get to my job site (only 3 miles away) had I taken it.
I do plan on using my bike most of the time while I’m up here. I agree. Having a car in Boston, based on my experience so far, is not necessary, most of the time.
Anyway, thanks for the responses. I just know that I ALWAYS lock my car, so was a little surprised to see my emergency brake disengaged. But then again, like you said, these guys are pros and can probably get into anything too.
Thanks again,
David
My son lived in Bawston for a number of yeaws. He went to college theah. Yeaw, it’s wicked cool. He was bicycle currier during his years at college.
Me, I live in NH and have spent many a happy hour in Boston over the past 58 years.
Yeah, I’m sure you car is fine. These guys get lots of practice. They tow cars all day long. Welcome to New England.
Trust us, they probably did no damage to your car. They do this all the time. They released the brake and took the transmission out of ‘park’. There are provisions to do this without the key. Don’t sweat it.
They know which end to lift so that the drive wheels are off the ground and lots of other stuff. What hurts cars? Everything. How bad? Not a heck of a lot.