Monday, November 20, 2006

Theft by Taking

So here's how it works: a government agent cruises around the city to identify all the parked cars that appear inoperable. If one of these cars just happens to be yours, they send you a notice telling you to remove it from your property within 30 days. If you don't remove it within 30 days, the city will authorize a towing company to come onto your property and take this piece of property from you and hold it for ransom for 30 days. If you don't pay the ransom in 30 days, they'll sell it to someone else. The new owner will then receive a notice from the city ordering them to remove it from his property within 30 days, else a towing company will come onto the private property and take this piece of property, and hold it for ransom for 30 days. If the new owner doesn't pay up, then the city will sell it to another unsuspecting soul who will be next in the cycle for the government's theft and ransoming of your own private property.

Reference:

FORSYTH - The Forsyth City Council has adopted a new derelict motor vehicle ordinance that gives the city more power to have nonworking vehicles removed from public and private property.

The new ordinance says that any vehicle that cannot operate under its own power that is left unattended for 10 days or more on public property and 30 days or more on private property can be cited with a notice requiring the owner to remove it within another 10 to 30 days.

If it is not removed by the deadline, the city can tow the automobile away and impound it for 30 days. Owners may pay towing and storage fees to retrieve impounded vehicles, but if they have not been claimed by the end of the holding period, the city may sell or dispose of them.

Anarchy in the streets

Several cities in Europe have decided to give people more control over their own driving skills by eliminating the multitude of nanny directives carving a path through the crowd for them. This can only be a good thing, to force drivers to pay attention to what they're doing and deliberately navigate and negotiate their own way to their destinations.

Read the article Controlled Chaos: European Cities Do Away With Traffic Signs