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Officials, tow firms collide at talk on new rules
Tuesday, May 23, 2000 By Timothy McNulty, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A mix of tow truck companies, lawyers and city government proved combustible yesterday, when a tow company attorney crashed a City Council news conference on new towing regulations and got into a shouting match with city officials.
City Councilman Alan Hertzberg and Controller Tom Flaherty called the news conference to unveil new limits on towing fees and practices that will be introduced to council today.
The rules are meant to protect visitors Downtown and elsewhere in the city from being gouged when they unwittingly park in private lots and return to find their cars towed away, they said.
Flaherty also used the occasion to denounce a towing firm, All Pro Detail and Tow, which he called a "Venus flytrap" that preys on parkers in the Strip District, and to ask people to join a civil lawsuit filed against the West End company.
That's when All Pro's lawyer, sitting in the back of the City Council conference room, surprised everyone by standing up and chastising Flaherty.
Hertzberg tried to stop the lawyer, Robert B. Stein, from speaking, saying he was not invited. But Stein continued, with television cameras and microphones swiveling around from the councilman to him.
Stein said he welcomed the new regulations but didn't approve of Flaherty's public support of the lawsuit, which the controller had photocopied and given to reporters.
"This is totally inappropriate. ... Why is this a forum for judging this lawsuit?" Stein asked Hertzberg and Flaherty, who also are lawyers.
Hertzberg was visibly angry, but Flaherty, no stranger to the bizarre, seemed to revel in the attention.
"I, sir, as controller of the city of Pittsburgh, have the responsibility as an ombudsman to take complaints from residents and respond to them," he said. "I believe in the substance of this lawsuit."
The lawsuit, filed by three city residents March 27, says All Pro operators "lie in wait in dark corners" of the Strip District, towing people from poorly marked private lots minutes after they've left their cars, and hauling the vehicles to an impound lot two miles away.
The lawsuit says the company then charges unreasonable and excessive towing and storage fees that vehicle owners must pay in cash.
Flaherty also claimed the company's owner, Thomas H. Stiokis Jr., confuses vehicle owners by wearing a Pittsburgh police T-shirt and threatens those who dispute towing charges.
Stein called the claims by the lawsuit and Flaherty "outrageous" and said All Pro lawfully tows cars that have trespassed on private property. If anyone acts rudely, he said, it's the customers, not his client.
The towing regulations Hertzberg will introduce today limit tow charges to $110 and storage fees to $9 per day, which is what the city tow pound charges. All Pro and other tow companies charge up to $150 for towing and $25 per day for storage.
Tow companies must accept charge cards for payments, the proposed rules say, and pay $100 yearly to be licensed by the city.
Vehicle owners who discover their vehicles being towed must be allowed to have them immediately released if they pay in cash.
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