PPA gets rare Philly ❤️ after it starts towing cars without license plates

The Philadelphia Parking Authority has begun cracking down on drivers who remove license plates and obscure vehicle identification numbers in an attempt to park illegally for free.

“Is your vehicle parked on a public street without a license plate? You might want to change that ASAP,” read a Wednesday tweet from @PhilaParking, accompanied by a cheery animated video set to old-time music — perfect for a thinly veiled threat.

Dozens of such vehicles have been towed in the past two weeks, the agency confirmed Friday.

The PPA, under the new leadership of executive director Richard Lazer, says its aggressive approach is in response to a “dramatic increase” in the practice in neighborhoods throughout the city.

Lazer, who served as Mayor Kenney’s top labor official and was appointed to the PPA position in November, said parking on a public street without a license plate is a violation of the Philadelphia Traffic Code, and covering the VIN “signals a clear intent to prevent our parking enforcement officers from issuing a parking violation.”

“I want the PPA to focus on public safety and quality of life issues that make our streets safer and our neighborhoods better places to live,” Lazer said in a statement to The Inquirer.

Philadelphia has seen a surge in plateless vehicles. Some are abandoned, but others are the result of drivers attempting to evade law enforcement, parking tickets, or toll-by-plate systems.

Josh Schulman, president of the Lower Moyamensing Civic Association, says he’s observed cars blocking crosswalks or taking up spots for weeks or months where parking is already tight in his South Philadelphia neighborhood.

“There’s no earthly reason why you wouldn’t have a plate on the back of your car,” Schulman said. “And if you don’t have a plate and you’re parking, you’re stealing. You’re stealing parking spots.”

Lazer’s plan to start towing plateless cars has earned the PPA some rare online love.

On a typical day, @PhilaParking is the go-to place for Philadelphians to vent about their parking tickets, other drivers’ behavior, and life in general. But the PPA’s announcement, so far, has been well received on social media:

“This may be the best thing I’ve seen the PPA do...ever.”

“[Bleep] the PPA but also this is huge”

“Re-upping my subscription to the PPA”

The PPA has previously told Schulman and other complainants that there was little it could do.

As recently as last year, the agency had insisted that it was prohibited from towing cars with missing plates. Philadelphia Police directives regard plateless cars as technically abandoned, and PPA instructed people to direct those complaints to the police department’s Neighborhood Services Unit.

PPA spokesperson Marty O’Rourke said Friday that since Feb. 22, the PPA has towed 33 vehicles without license plates and visible VINs as part of its new initiative. Twenty-one of them have since been released to their owners, who were required to pay a $41 ticket and $175 tow fee. Any other outstanding tickets must also be paid before a vehicle is released.

O’Rourke said vehicles that are clearly abandoned will still be handled by the city’s 311 civil complaint system. It was not immediately clear Friday what criteria the PPA would use to determine whether a car is abandoned or still in use.

Schulman said he had given up on filing reports about abandoned cars using 311. He eventually resorted to lobbing complaints about plateless cars at the PPA’s Twitter account.

Last week, Schulman raised those concerns again in an NBC10 story about “ghost cars” with missing or fraudulent plates. The next day, he says, the PPA notified him that two cars he’d previously complained about on Twitter had been towed.

“I get a sense that enough people are making enough noise to finally get some traction,” he said.

Questions and reports of cars without license plates should be directed to the PPA at 215-683-9773 or @PhilaParking on Twitter.