Savannah Tatum wanted to be visiting her daughter’s father at the hospital after he was victim of an armed robbery in late November 2007.

Instead, she was stuck at the city tow lot for the third time that week trying to get her towing fees waived after the car was confiscated as crime evidence.

But unlike Tatum, some people never get their vehicles back.

The city of Milwaukee destroyed or sold almost one-third of the approximately 31,659 vehicles towed in 2006, a team of investigative student journalists found.

Before the vehicles are crushed, they are held in the tow lot for an average of 22 days, which is nearly 20 days longer than the average 2006 retrieval rate. At that point, it would cost $535 to pick up the vehicle when adding up the $95 towing fee and $20 a day storage fee.

There are many reasons people aren’t reclaiming the cars. Some people can’t afford the parking and towing fees that they have racked up, while others are not notified in time to get the car back. Still others realize that the vehicle isn’t worth the $95 towing fee after the car was stolen and stripped of all its value or demolished in an accident.

Mary Johnson, who lives in the northwest part of Milwaukee, did not have a car for four years after her car was towed and crushed in 2003.

One morning she was planning on driving her two kids to school, but when she walked outside her 1991 Pontiac Grand Prix was gone. She parked on the wrong side of the street the night before and her car was towed.

She had the original $95 towing fee when she wanted to retrieve her car, but she didn’t have the extra $20 storage fee. And every day she was chasing the extra $20.

Even when her towing and storage fee totaled more than $300, she still wanted her car back but it was too late. The tow lot sent her a letter informing her that her car was destroyed.

“That set me back,” Johnson said. “I didn’t have a car for four years all because my car got towed.”

Milwaukee tow lot manager, David Lawrence, said, however, there are things Johnson could have done to avoid getting her car towed and crushed, such as taking out a temporary loan.

“It’s a lot of personal responsibility,” Lawrence said. “If you park your car in tow away zones, you are going to be towed. Driving is a privilege.”

Johnson is not alone in not knowing all Milwaukee parking ordinances. Streets throughout the city do not post all regulations for street sweeping, snow removal and special events that drivers struggle to keep up with.

Sam McGovern-Rowen, 3rd District legislative assistant for Ald. Michael D’Amato, said the regulations are confusing, especially for winter parking. But McGovern-Rowen said there would be “sign pollution” if all city street posted every parking restriction including night parking.

Cleaning up the streets

But cars don’t just get towed for parking violations. Rows of demolished cars, including “mortality lane,” fill the tow lot after they were towed as a result of sometimes tragic accidents.

In 2006, 10 percent of towed vehicles were in accidents, 6 percent were recovered stolen, 2 percent were prisoner’s property, and 1 percent was due to health nuisances, according to Floyd.

Getting abandoned cars off the street is also a way to prevent crime, said Milwaukee District 5 police Capt. Anthony Smith.

“If allowed, some autos would stay parked in the same spot forever,” said Smith in a personal interview. “Having these rusted out hulks strew throughout an area adds to the perception that there is disorder in the area which attracts individuals who commit all different types of crimes.”

Registration concerns

When a vehicle is brought into the tow lot, the employees are required to notify the owner, but that sometimes poses a problem when drivers fail to update their registrations or notify the Department of Motor Vehicles of a new address, said Lawrence.

While registration can create a problem, Lawrence said he is happy with the current retrieval rate. The tow lot had a 74 percent retrieval rate as of Nov.30, 2007. That is up almost 10 percent from 2006 and almost 25 percent from 2005 when almost half of all towed vehicles were sold or recycled.

That increase in retrieval could be in part due to a new state law that went into effect in 2006 that authorized municipalities to tow unregistered cars. The city originally did have an ordinance allowing unregistered cars to be towed, but it wasn’t enforced due to concerns about the wording, Lawrence said.

Daryl Upton, who lives in Riverwest, had his car towed five times for not displaying current registration stickers. He estimates the towing and storage fees are more than $1,000.

Upton admitted that he had been negligent in not maintaining current registration, but after his car was towed the first time in August 2007, tow lot workers made him register the car. The following four times, he was towed while waiting for his registration stickers to come in the mail since the stickers are not available at the tow lot.

Lawrence again stressed that driving is about personal responsibility and said that Upton could have gone to a DMV to pick up his stickers rather than waiting.

“The ideal situation is where people would register their vehicles,” Lawrence said.

Too late

The city can’t hold the cars forever, and at some point tow lot employees need to clear a space for new cars to come in. Tow lot employees waited an average of 22 days to recycle vehicles and 67 days to sell unclaimed vehicles to a registered dealer in 2006, according to Lawrence.

The vehicles that are sold to dealers are valued at $200 or greater and brought in $1.34 million in 2006. If the owner tried to pick up the car after 67 days, it would translate to $1,435 in towing and storage charges.

The cars that are not worth $200 are sent to the far side of the tow lot and are lined up. Then Miller Compressing, the city’s contracted recycling company, siphons the hazardous material, crushes the vehicle and shreds them.

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