People complain about towing; city pushes back

Residents in one Savannah neighborhood are speaking out, saying the city should have done more to alert them their cars could be towed before the St. Patrick's Day parade. “I’m just looking for a little bit of fairness, that’s all,” said Paul Suszinski. Suszinski has lived on Habersham Street for the last 20 years. He says this is the first time he’s been towed before Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.“It says ‘No Parking,’ not ‘Tow Away Zone,’ there was only one sign in the middle of the street, and you couldn’t see it,” Suszinski said.But Savannah Alderman Detric Leggett said the city released as much information as possible about parking.“There were a lot of papers put up. It was a lot of information put out in the news media, newspaper or what have you, even on the city's website, what the parade route was out earlier, what was going to be when we started towing," Leggett said. A neighbor sent WJCL 22 a photo of a "No Parking Sign” on the ground. Signs were still up on Hall Street Monday, but were not up on E. Huntington Street, where Suszinski was towed.“If it was just $125, I probably would have just lived with it, but that just seems price gouging if it’s a hurricane, they’re not allowed to charge you three times for gas,” Suszinski said.The city of Savannah responded with a statement saying:The City placed a large volume of signage on the parade route and in the staging area. For safety reasons, vehicles must be towed from the no parking areas. “For me, I’m a recent retiree and on social security, so that’s not a small fee I now have to pay.”According to the consumer education section of Georgia.gov: “In Georgia, towing companies may not charge more than $175 for the non-consensual towing of a vehicle that weighs less than 10,000 pounds.”There is a meeting Tuesday with the downtown neighborhood association and city manager Jay Melder. It’s happening at 5:30 p.m. at the Georgia Coastal Center.Leggett also said the city is meeting on Wednesday to review a report related to the complaints to find solutions for the future.

SAVANNAH, Ga. —

Residents in one Savannah neighborhood are speaking out, saying the city should have done more to alert them their cars could be towed before the St. Patrick's Day parade.

“I’m just looking for a little bit of fairness, that’s all,” said Paul Suszinski.

Suszinski has lived on Habersham Street for the last 20 years. He says this is the first time he’s been towed before Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

“It says ‘No Parking,’ not ‘Tow Away Zone,’ there was only one sign in the middle of the street, and you couldn’t see it,” Suszinski said.

But Savannah Alderman Detric Leggett said the city released as much information as possible about parking.

“There were a lot of papers put up. It was a lot of information put out in the news media, newspaper or what have you, even on the city's website, what the parade route was out earlier, what was going to be when we started towing," Leggett said.

A neighbor sent WJCL 22 a photo of a "No Parking Sign” on the ground. Signs were still up on Hall Street Monday, but were not up on E. Huntington Street, where Suszinski was towed.

“If it was just $125, I probably would have just lived with it, but that just seems price gouging if it’s a hurricane, they’re not allowed to charge you three times for gas,” Suszinski said.

The city of Savannah responded with a statement saying:

The City placed a large volume of signage on the parade route and in the staging area. For safety reasons, vehicles must be towed from the no parking areas.

“For me, I’m a recent retiree and on social security, so that’s not a small fee I now have to pay.”

According to the consumer education section of Georgia.gov: “In Georgia, towing companies may not charge more than $175 for the non-consensual towing of a vehicle that weighs less than 10,000 pounds.”

There is a meeting Tuesday with the downtown neighborhood association and city manager Jay Melder. It’s happening at 5:30 p.m. at the Georgia Coastal Center.

Leggett also said the city is meeting on Wednesday to review a report related to the complaints to find solutions for the future.

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