Local Government TV

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Anonymous Benefactor Offers Help to Stolen Car Victim

Yesterday, I told you the story of a single mother in Allentown whose car was stolen from outside her home as she slept. Though Whitehall police recovered her car, she was stuck with a $242 towing and storage bill. Unable to afford to keep the car in storage for a few more days, police will make no effort to investigate the theft because they can't check for fingerprints inside an impound lot. Though she had insurance to cover tows, Whitehall's contracted tow operator refused to accept it. Though the car was in storage for less than two full days, she was charged for three. That's how the system works for people who live from paycheck to paycheck. If you have a good job and steady income, a nicer car and collision policy is a given. If you have no job at all, the government steps in and gives you everything you need. But for our growing class of working poor, there really is no safety net, other than medical insurance for children (CHIP). So you can go hungry, have no funds to send your loved ones to school and have no nest eggs as you grow older.

In response to my story yesterday, an anonymous benefactor called, and offered to help. To be honest, I'm not sure his kind offer will be accepted. These people may be poor, but they are also proud. I offered some money myself, and was shot down pretty quickly. That's probably because I'm in the same boat myself. Either that or they think I'm a maniacal stalker who kicks pigs. But I was allowed to speak to the tow operator for them, which was probably the biggest mistake they could have made.

I'm a graduate of the Michael Molovinsky School of Diplomacy. He told me I'm a natural. But I came up short yesterday with the tow operator.

First, I got lost trying to find his place. The GPS on my iPhone kept sending me to a volunteer fire station on Pine Street for some reason. So I had to talk to the guy by phone.

"What's this I hear about you refusing to accept the insurance for the tow?"

----- "I'm sorry sir, but I have bills to pay, too."

"Why the hell are you charging three days storage when you haven't had the car for two?"

----- "I'm sorry sir, but I go by calendar days, and my contract with Whitehall allows me to do that."

"This has nothing to do with your contract with Whitehall. It has to do with your contract with this woman, who has no money to begin with. You were at home all weekend, sitting on your ass, and you're charging her. Are you telling me you can't give her a break on $30?"

----- "I'm entitled to take weekends off, too."

"We'll see what you're entitled to when I sue your ass."

At this point, the tow operator hung up on me and kicked the woman off his lot.

"Now, you're not going to get the car at all. Get out of here!" is what I'm told he said.

In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea to have me talk to the tow operator. I probably need a refresher course on my diplomacy skills.

Eventually, the tow operator relented and gave the woman her car, with no breaks on the original price. When she got it back, she learned that thieves took everything, from her cash and credit cards to even her son's social security card. She has to get a new registration card, which means even more money.

This situation, in my view, illustrates the shortcomings in our Democratic and Republican ideologies. On the one hand, we have a social welfare state that gives people no incentive to better themselves and provides little or no assistance to those who degrade themselves by working. On the other hand, we have a limited government mantra in which people are supposed to rely on family, churches and charities. People are told they should be more responsible and keep an emergency stash of cash, with absolutely no understanding that the working poor need every penny they earn to meet current expenses, and even that is sometimes inadequate.

Local government officials are too busy hobnobbing with the JB Reillys and Mark Jaindls to notice the people who are actually paying for the tax breaks they dispense. Those are the people who should be heard.

CACLV Executive Director Alan Jennings likes to say that he speaks for those who have no voice. Actually, there is a chorus of voices speaking for those who are dependent on government services.

But who speaks for the Abe Lincoln poor? Those who are willing to and do work? Unfortunately, no one. They are the backbone of America, and are daily becoming a serf class to both the very poor and very rich.

20 comments:

  1. Jennings speaks for the poor?

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  2. bernie, perhaps you forgot, but the cigarette tax is now being used for City Center debt service, not CHIP, although somewhat complicated, those kids will now be eligible under Junior Obamacare.



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  3. this is a very funny story but the jg/tm saga is much more interesting.

    by the way if the so called poor people don't take the money than they are stupid. that's what poor people do best - take and or do stupid things

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  4. There is a scandal here that folks don't realize until they too become victims. The towing industry should be investigated by the state Attorney General's office. There should be public hearings in every town conducted by their local state legislator. This mother is not alone. The impounding situation is wrong and makes us victims time and again. Where may one donate to help this mother?

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  5. Bernie,
    wHY DID'NT yOU MENTION THE TOW COMPANY BY NAME , IT'S ABOUT TIME PEOPLE BECOME AWARE OF HOW THESE TOW COMPANIES SCREWW PEOPLE, YOCUM TOWING, MSG TOWING, PIECHOTA TOWING, AND LIST GOES ON....HAVE BEEN RIPPING THE PUBLIC BLIND FOR YEARS AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT.....

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  6. When I can remember for sure which one it is, I will. I don't want to slam the wrong outfit.

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  7. I've enjoyed this blog for years. The last paragraph of this post is as good as anything you've written. Well said. Wow.

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  8. Thank you for the story, Bernie. Businesses always say they are championing "customer service," (sometimes successfully and sometimes not) but government officials also have to recognize who their customers are (all of them).

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  9. I have to agree with 12:53.

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  10. You need to get a resident of Whitehall to call their county commissioners and Mayor and complain about the towing company. If the jerk thinks his contract is in jeopardy he'll be more polite.

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  11. Weeping for the working poor and opposing healthcare reform? How exquisite lay hypocritical. It's quite typical of politically confused people.

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  12. I never opposed health care reform. I opposed the monstrosity known as Obamacare, and still do.

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  13. Because the status quo was a better option for the people you weep over. Educate yourself outside the National Review or the chamber of commerce.

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  14. Opposing the monstrosity known as Obamacare does not translate to supporting the status quo or being an acolyte of National Review. The whole point of my post is that the ideologies of both left and right are inadequate to our growing serf class, the working poor. Your desire to engage in the usual left right debate reveals you don't get it, nor do you care to get it.

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  15. The problem is that any new job is most likely a low paying service job that will most likely be part time to boot. Obama care is causing the Partime o situation. NAFTA thanks to Clinton Bush Ford (Carter?) pushed for this thing in the early 90s. We collectively will never get ahead. So if you hit a bump in the road like this lady your hosed.

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  16. Good Old Ronald Reagan's vision of America in the 80's has come true. We are all sucking air or swimming in our champagne.

    Its morning in America. If you don't have a house, you just get to see the sun rise sooner.

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  17. Opposing the monstrosity known as Obamacare does not translate to supporting the status quo or being an acolyte of National Review. The whole point of my post is that the ideologies of both left and right are inadequate to our growing serf class, the working poor. Your desire to engage in the usual left right debate reveals you don't get it, nor do you care to get it.

    I'm sure the "serf class" as you label them appreciate now being covered for pre-exisiting conditions, the return of funds by insurance companies not spent directly on healthcare, the reduction of rates, the inability of healthcare companies to cancel coverage, coverage of their college age children, the end to lifetime limit caps, and FREE preventative care.

    I believe the serf class (your term) will also appreciate the exchange whereby affordable options will finally exist for them when the companies that employ them choose to not cover them.

    Quite the "monstrosity".

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  18. Opposing the monstrosity known as Obamacare does not translate to supporting the status quo or being an acolyte of National Review. The whole point of my post is that the ideologies of both left and right are inadequate to our growing serf class, the working poor. Your desire to engage in the usual left right debate reveals you don't get it, nor do you care to get it.

    I'm sure the "serf class" as you label them appreciate now being covered for pre-exisiting conditions, the return of funds by insurance companies not spent directly on healthcare, the reduction of rates, the inability of healthcare companies to cancel coverage, coverage of their college age children, the end to lifetime limit caps, and FREE preventative care.

    I believe the serf class (your term) will also appreciate the exchange whereby affordable options will finally exist for them when the companies that employ them choose to not cover them.

    Quite the "monstrosity".

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  19. You can pick parts of Obamcare that are beneficial and i can pick many more that are not. It is a monstrosity that does nothing to reform the cost of medical care in this country, allowing it to spiral ouit of control. And it will ultimately lead to rationing, and yes, that will negatively impact those of us who are working poor. But this post is not about Obamacare. It is about the failure of government to do anything for the great middle.

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