PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – An important rule change for The Portland Bureau Of Transportation (PBOT) goes into effect Tuesday.
PBOT can now tow cars without notice if the cars do not have at least one license plate or a visible VIN.
PBOT said since the pandemic, they have seen a rise in people removing their license plates, even obscuring their VIN to make them unidentifiable to parking enforcement and avoid accountability for violating parking or other laws. The goal of the new policy is primarily to address that behavior.
For some, cars and trailers on the side of the road are their homes, and they are concerned about how this new rule will impact them.
In Southeast Portland, a stretch of Foster Road is lined with RVs, trailers, and cars that people live in, like Melody Jones.
“We were over on 102 and Ankeny, But we moved down here a few days ago it was getting too busy up there,” Jones said.
Jones often sweeps the sidewalk she is parked on. She said she wants to make the space as nice as she can for her granddaughter. Jones and her family are waiting to get approved for an apartment voucher. In the meantime, they live in trailers. Some have license plates, others don’t.
We asked Jones if she had heard about the new PBOT rule.
“Nope, no I haven’t heard anything about it,” Jones said, “I don’t think it’s fair & I don’t think it’s right.”
Jones said that for many folks in Portland, these unlicensed cars and trailers are all they have.
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Down the street from Jones, there are more unlicensed trailers and cars in the neighborhood. A few homeowners said they support the rule change and hope it will clean up their neighborhood. Others say the rule goes too far.
“Frankly I feel like they should be given some notice,” John, a Southeast Portland homeowner said, “maybe 72 hours is too long of a notice, but I think it’s inhumane to tow them without notice.”
PBOT said this new rule will help parking enforcement officers quickly clear vehicles that violate city code. They said they do not want to take away someone’s home.
PBOT gave a statement on the issue that read in part;
“This DOES NOT change the way the city works to address public health or safety concerns with people living in vehicles. PBOT works with the Street Services Coordination Center and the Impact Reduction Program on the criteria and decisions for how the city responds to concerns about people living in vehicles on city streets.”
“I don’t think anyone really takes off completely, we always leave somebody with the trailer, just in case something like that happens. I don’t go far,” Jones said.
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