SAN FRANCISCO—The City of San Francisco towed away a vehicle parked two blocks from Safeway Marina, just hours after tech mogul Garry Tan shared the information with an X post on Sept. 19.
A police officer enforcing parking violations in Marina District told The Epoch Times that the car, which had received a number of tickets and was parked on Bay Street just behind Marina Middle School, was towed away late on Sept. 19 or early on Sept. 20.
The vehicle was towed away due to a “public hazard,” since the parking blocked a lane, the officer said.
Mr. Tan, president and CEO of Y Combinator, posted on Sept. 19, “A vehicle used in narcotics trafficking with over $2,600 worth of tickets has been parked for weeks across from the Marina Safeway.”
In his post, he included part of an email that Shawn McCormick, director of Parking Enforcement and Traffic, sent to a citizen who had complained about the vehicle.
The email stated, “We are no longer able to tow vehicles for outstanding tickets no matter the number of tickets or the amount.”
Mr. Tan called it “the craziest email.”
This X post was viewed close to a million times within 24 hours. As of 5 p.m. on Sept. 21, the number of views had increased to 1.545 million.
On Dec. 23, 2022, a preliminary injunction was issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu on the case of Coalition on Homelessness v. City and County of San Francisco et. al.
This injunction forbids the city from enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a variety of laws and ordinances that would otherwise “prohibit involuntarily homeless individuals from sitting, lying, or sleeping on public property.”
The same injunction also stops the city from seizing and destroying unhoused people’s survival gear and personal property.
For some of the unhoused people, the gear may be the vehicle they’re living in, hence the statement from Mr. McCormick in the email.
The case has been brought in front of judges of the Ninth Circuit and is currently pending. City Attorney David Chiu requested that Judge Ryu suspend her injunction before the appeal trial, but the request was denied.
Mr. Chiu said in a statement on Aug. 10, “The injunction has put the City in an impossible situation, straining the City’s ability to meet practical and legal obligations.”
The parking violation enforcing officer said that the only way for them to tow away a vehicle that has multiple parking violations is to wait until the registration at the DMV expires.
“It may take half a year,” the officer said.
Regarding the vehicle in Marina District, the city responded to residents that the tow was allowed for other reasons, “like being cited for being in the same spot for 72 hours,” according to an X post by Mr. Tan late on Sept. 20.
