El Paso public housing residents left to pay hundreds of dollars to retrieve towed cars

EL PASO, Texas -- There are plenty of angry residents at the Gonzalez Place public residential apartments in El Paso. Dozens of residents woke up Thursday to discover their cars were towed because they did not have a parking decal, a policy which went into effect at the start of the month.

“Wake up in the morning, get your car towed, you never know. And for today, as a matter of fact, it started in broad daylight, they came and did it,” said Jaime Alaniz, an apartment resident.

“Yesterday and today, the tow trucks came out towing cars in the parking lot. And they’re not giving any type of notice,” said Erica Williams, another resident.

Alaniz watched out his apartment balcony as tow trucks went in and out with residents cars hooked up. One of those towed cars belonged to neighbor Mindy Partida.

“My daughter called me to say they had towed the car, so we were looking for it. We reported it stolen because we didn’t even know they were towing cars,” said Partida.

She said she never saw a notice indicating she needed a parking decal in this public housing apartment complex, where residents pay little in rent because they don’t earn much.

“People are hurting. Yeah, we might’ve gotten our stimulus. You know, we’re in projects here - that’s great, works for us. But still, we’re in a bind,” Alaniz explained.

Maria Olivares’ car was towed as well.

She said she received a notice saying she had to get a parking decal and tried to get one. But because of her busy schedule, she was unable to.

Olivares cleans homes for a living and gets paid about $60 per home. Now, she had to dish out $259 just to get her car out.

ABC-7 tried talking to public housing management to try to find out just how many cars have been towed in the last two days. But the office was closed and no one answered when an ABC-7 crew knocked.

“There’s elderly people here. They get home health care. You get nurses that come, and this and that. And you don’t have a sticker and you come out and your car’s gone. God, you were here doing your job,” said a frustrated Alaniz.

He added that getting a parking decal is not that easy, because several documents have to be presented first before your are given one.

Some residents who had their cars towed are now worried about having to leave their cars in the tow truck company’s lot, because they don’t know how much they'll have to pay per day while their vehicle sits in it.