ST. LOUIS 鈥 One of the first things Helen Money sees when she wakes up in the morning is the black car across the street.
She鈥檚 told the city about the old Cutlass Supreme, an eyesore with flat tires and the passenger door caving in. City workers even came to her corner of Walnut Park East to put a tow sticker on it once. But it鈥檚 been months. The sticker鈥檚 been peeled off.
鈥淚鈥檓 constantly calling the city,鈥 said Money, 63. 鈥淎nd they constantly do nothing.鈥
It鈥檚 a familiar refrain for residents across St. 亚洲无码. Staffing shortages, combined with a cramped impound lot and a rise in incoming Kias and Hyundais, have badly hobbled the towing operation in recent years. City data indicates it鈥檚 taking weeks longer for complaints to be addressed. And a host of aldermen say they see it every day in their neighborhoods.
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鈥淚 ride around and take pictures of them with no plates, with steering wheels busted, with the windows out,鈥 said Alderwoman Pam Boyd, of the northwest side. 鈥淏ut it takes forever to get the cars towed.鈥
Meanwhile, the clunkers have been piling up across the city. There were more than 700 on the streets as of Tuesday morning, taking up valuable parking space, reducing curb appeal and trying the patience of residents already dealing with trash pickup that comes days late and a 911 dispatch system that puts callers on hold.
鈥淚鈥檓 to the point where I just want to sell the house and go,鈥 said Money, whose roots in her neighborhood go back 50 years.
Nick Dunne, a spokesperson for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, said the administration is working on it. Streets Department leaders are pushing for higher wages and better benefits for tow truck drivers to improve recruitment and retention and seeing more interest from job seekers in recent months. They are also looking for more space to store cars and working to clear out the existing lot through regular auctions and negotiations with police, who park cars that are part of criminal investigations there.
鈥淚t鈥檚 starting to look promising that we will get this work done,鈥 Streets Director Betherny Williams told aldermen at a recent budget hearing.
The city鈥檚 Auto Towing and Storage Division is effectively a heavy-duty street cleaner, charged with evicting more than 10,000 vehicles from the roads each year. Its drivers handle cars deemed abandoned, derelict, hazardous or inoperable as well as vehicles that are stolen, in accidents or involved in crimes. It sells about one-third of its quarry at auction, bringing in millions of dollars every year.
Months, not weeks
For the average resident, getting a car towed is supposed to work like this: A call, email or online complaint is made to the Citizens鈥 Service Bureau reporting the existence of a derelict, hazardous or abandoned vehicle. A Streets Department inspector is dispatched to verify the report within five days, and, if the citizen鈥檚 account is accurate, the inspector places a brightly colored sticker on the car鈥檚 window giving the owner 14 days to move before the vehicle is hooked up and hauled off.
But residents, aldermen and neighborhood leaders say the system is broken. It took roughly 50 days, on average, to investigate towing-related complaints last year, according to data from Citizens鈥 Service Bureau. From 2017-19, that number was closer to 10. And even in 2020, it was roughly 22. Dunne, the mayor鈥檚 spokesman, said CSB data may not be entirely accurate the work is not necessarily reported in real time.
Still, even after vehicles are inspected and tagged, many aldermen and residents say they measure their waits in months, not weeks.
Those delays have coincided with declines in staffing: A decade ago, the Streets Department had 16 tow truck drivers, according to budget data. In early 2019, it had 11. In early 2022, it had six people picking up cars.
Dunne said part of the problem was a yearlong hiring freeze imposed early in the pandemic that allowed vacancies to pile up into one of the tightest labor markets in recent memory. Officials have also said a pay scale that starts new drivers at about $15.50 per hour can鈥檛 compete with the private sector.
And even if the city can get more drivers, there鈥檚 often nowhere to put the cars. Williams, the streets department director, said the impound lot on Hall Street, on the north riverfront, is designed to hold about 900 but late last year, had more than 1,200.
鈥淟iterally, cars are almost stacked on top of each other, bumper to bumper,鈥 she told aldermen in December.
Some of that may also be related to the astronomical increase in stolen vehicles in the city in the past year. Reports of such crimes, driven by viral news of security flaws in popular Kia and Hyundai models, jumped 79% from 2021 to 2022.
As a result, the city has had to triage, leaving some cars on the street 鈥 and residents to steam.
Buying into a nightmare
Barbara Furnace, 66, said she鈥檚 been complaining about derelict cars on her street in Hamilton Heights for more than a year. The current struggle is with a red SUV with a busted fender that Furnace said has been sitting up on a jack for months.
City workers put a sticker on it 鈥 warning it would be towed after May 23.
鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy,鈥 Furnace said. 鈥淧eople are paying their taxes, doing everything right, and half the time you have nowhere to park.鈥
William Hersman, 47, has the same problem. He鈥檚 been waiting for the city to pick up a pair of broken-down cars in front of his house in the Baden neighborhood for at least six months. One is missing a headlight and a fender and has parts of its undercarriage lying on the ground. The other has a smashed rear window and a ceiling coming apart. Neither has plates, not even a temp tag.
鈥淚t seems like they wait until they鈥檙e all stripped before they get 鈥檈m,鈥 Hersman said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of crazy.鈥
Alderwoman Sharon Tyus, of Kingsway East, said it鈥檚 especially discouraging to the homeowners who have stuck it out in the northside neighborhoods she represents, where towing woes are the latest indignity for people already enduring high rates of crime, vacancy and disinvestment.
鈥淭hey buy into the American Dream,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd they get a nightmare for city services.鈥
City Hall has repeatedly assured aldermen that change is coming. New drivers have signed on, boosting ranks back up to a dozen. The city is looking to purchase land to store cars. Williams, the streets director, said she would even consider contracting out some towing services, at least temporarily.
And at the existing lot, Dunne said staff have been working with police to clear out more than 300 vehicles that were being held for investigations that have been over for a while.
Dunne said employees are also working to more quickly notify owners of towed vehicles so they can reclaim them faster.
Aldermen, for their part, are also talking about potential solutions in the upcoming budget. Budget Chair Cara Spencer recently asked Williams to put together figures on how much money the department will need to buy more space and be a more competitive employer.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole host of things missing there,鈥 Spencer said.