Birmingham City leaders say they are working to end predatory towing and parking issues

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - If you live in or visit the Magic City frequently, finding a place to park can often be a problem and too many of you have had poor experiences with aggressive tow companies.

City leaders say they are aware of the problem and are working to eliminate the issue. City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn says the city is planning a public engagement event to discuss the issue on June 7th.

The Mayor took to Facebook this week saying quote “a new towing ordinance is being drafted to address your concerns.”

Councilor O’Quinn tells me there has been a lot of internal discussion over the last few months and that they intend to share some of the intended parking ordinance changes at the June event. The time and location of the public engagement event has not been finalized, but we will share as soon as we know more.

The Birmingham parking authority is also still developing their strategic plan to better parking in the magic city, and in today’s board meeting CEO Andre Davis stressed they are still gathering feedback and thoughts.

“We are getting a lot of headway with the community. We have had roughly seven or eight community focus meetings with different constituents in the community and from our city leadership team. We are getting a lot of feedback,” said Davis.

City Council President Wardine Alexander also shared a statement with us, and stresses the council is working to solve the problem.

“As result of public inquiry and examples that we have been receiving from residents, Dr. O’Quinn (Transportation Committee), Councilor Tate (Public Safety Committee) and Council Leadership, have been working closely with OCA and had set a public hearing to learn more from residents as we tackle these incidences of predatory towing. We feel our team effort will help us to work towards strengthening our ordinances and protect residents from these unsafe practices and nuisances”.

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