LOS ANGELES — The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles has filed a petition against the city's Department of Transportation for allegedly refusing to provide transparency about its towing practices, even as the City Council has continued to enact RV bans around citywide with increased towing.

What You Need To Know

  • The Legal Aid Foundation of LA is pressuring LADOT to provide transparency over its towing practice

  • Every year, the city tows upwards of 100,000 vehicles

  • The LADOT reported that LAFLA's latest request had been referred to the city attorney, but since then, the city attorney has failed to produce the records or provide any further response, as required by state law

  • With LA refusing to release the data, the city has prevented public scrutiny into whether its practices harm low- income residents

Every year, the city tows upwards of 100,000 vehicles, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court petition, which also states that, since 2019, LAFLA and coalition partners from the statewide Back on the Road Coalition have often sought LADOT data under the California Public Records Act to analyze the economic impact of these tows on Los Angeles households.

The city attorney's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In June, the LADOT reported that LAFLA's latest request had been referred to the city attorney, but since then, the city attorney has failed to produce the records or provide any further response, as required by state law.

"Los Angeles residents need and deserve a clear understanding of the impacts of our city's policies and whether they disproportionately harm communities already burdened by over-policing, predatory debt collection and criminalization," said Shayla Myers, senior attorney in LAFLA's Unhoused People's Justice Project. "The city cannot continue to keep the public in the dark about its approach to problems affecting all Angelenos, especially when doing so violates state law."

In 2019, the Back on the Road Coalition released a report, Towed Into Debt, which relied on similar data from cities around the state to show how their practices result in severe debt, loss of transportation and even homelessness, while frequently actually costing cities money, the petition states.

The practices also disproportionately impact communities of color, but because Los Angeles has refused to release comparable data, the city has prevented public scrutiny into whether the city's practices similarly harm low- income residents and the city's bottom line, according to the legal action.