CARS FOR CASH: WHERE WAS TONY GEORGE?

"Cars for Cash" (LAG TOWING) is what raises my ire more than anything in regards to Tony George. How can a Council member and former Chief stand by for a decade as this criminal empire roared. WHERE WERE YOU, TONY?

This is not negative! Do you know what is negative?

What is negative is that hundreds (thousand?) had their cars stolen because they did not "matter." 

... because they were poor

... because they were women

... because they were black

... because they had no power

... because they couldn't help someone politically

Tony and I had a conversation about police bribes.

He said they were $50 per car.

Did he do anything with this info?

He was totally impervious to the pain and corruption around him.

He shouted at meetings but actually helped no one.

This is the truth folks.

I hope you strongly consider this with your vote.

WHAT I HOPE YOU CONSIDER IS HOW TONY GEORGE and OTHERS SIMPLY DO NOT SEE CRIME AROUND THEM. It is the "BYSTANDER EFFECT ON STEROIDS."

HIS RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. 

HE DOES NOT WANT TO BE BOTHERED.

Unpaid Frank Sorick outdid the paid Tony George in spades in terms of public works. This is one area Frank was not involved in but I will soon point out where he he help people. He helped a lot of people at his own personal expense.

Checklist          

Visted victims

Me: Many times

Tony George: NEVER

Bought used cars/ made victims whole

Me: Bought several used cars for victims

Tony George: NEVER

Filed Criminal complaints regarding auto theft

Me: Filed for victims (the DA of course covered for the scam)

Tony George: NEVER (as a former police chief)

Paid off outrageous storage fees

Me: Paid Several for victims 

Tony George: NEVER

Responsible for FBI taking action

Me: See letter. I initiated everything (a lonely quest)

Tony George: He only rode thae bandwagon once it was started.

Senta Boyer getting new car

Courtesy Citizens Voice

W-B towing contractor: No receipts for towed vehicles

By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer Citizens Voice)

Published: January 1, 2012

Wilkes-Barre's towing contractor has no record of what he charged or why he towed vehicles for nearly all seven years he's been on the job.

LAG Towing normally does not keep records after customers pay for impounded vehicles, said Thomas Ford, the company's attorney. The business, which pays the city $50,050 annually for exclusive towing rights, only started keeping receipts after The Citizens' Voice filed an open records request for detailed reports more than six months ago.

The request asked for documentation dating back to April 2005, when Wilkes-Barre hired LAG Towing. The company's owner, Leo A. Glodzik III, provided 116 receipts from Aug. 1 to Nov. 29, but did not release any documents from before July 22, the date of the records request.

Mr. Glodzik only began keeping receipts and tow reports upon Mr. Ford's advice, the attorney said in a letter accompanying the documents.

With 76 months of receipts unavailable for review, Mr. Glodzik has offered just a snapshot of his pricing practices under the city contract. Some receipts do not specify charges, but Mr. Glodzik made at least $19,926 over the four months and averaged $171.78 a tow, including storage and labor costs.

That places Mr. Glodzik within his fee schedule, which states he can charge anywhere from $125 to $175 depending upon the circumstances of the tow.

Bob Kadluboski, who held the city contract before LAG Towing, has long insisted his successor has charged more than his fee schedule specifies and said he has receipts to back up the claim.

The owner of City-Wide Towing obtained an LAG towing receipt dated Dec. 16 that indicates Mr. Glodzik charged a city woman $650 after her vehicle was impounded after an accident on Park Avenue.

Mike McGovern, a former tow truck driver who works as an attorney concentrating on the towing industry, said Mr. Glodzik's assertion that he has receipts for just four out of 80 months "doesn't pass the smell test."

The practice amounts to "bad business," Mr. McGovern said. Receipts might be necessary for tax purposes and detailed invoices could be useful for defending claims the towing company damaged someone's vehicle, he said.

The lack of receipts also raises questions of whether Mr. Glodzik always charged his stated fees, Mr. McGovern said.

"It raises a suspicion that he's been overcharging. That's obvious," Mr. McGovern said. "It just raises suspicions that all of a sudden, noise is being made about towing fees and he only has receipts from (Aug. 1) forward."

While Mr. McGovern said many municipalities set caps on tow charges and require their towing contractors to provide monthly invoices, Wilkes-Barre's contract with LAG does not include such stipulations.

"Shame on the municipality for not having some methodology in place for reviewing their contract," Mr. McGovern said.

Mr. Glodzik can charge whatever he would like for city-directed tows, provided the prices are "reasonable and according to the standards of the industry," according to the contract.

Mr. McGovern said he's not sure how contractual language requiring industry-standard prices can be applied practically and expressed surprise the contract permits Mr. Glodzik to set his own prices.

"That's what the contract says? Geez," Mr. McGovern said. "That's not a contract at all."

Neither Mr. Glodzik nor Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton returned telephone messages seeking comment about the records.

Mr. Glodzik has become a focal point of public criticism in recent months, especially from Mr. Kadluboski and Mark Robbins, a Forty Fort man Mr. Glodzik towed last year. Mr. Robbins believes LAG Towing's prices leave poorer residents susceptible to an "economic death spiral."

Mr. Robbins points to the case of Senta Boyer, a 41-year-old city resident who said she must walk from her home near Hazle Street to work at a furniture store off Kidder Street after the city had her car impounded Oct. 27 because of expired tags.

The next day, LAG Towing told MS. Boyer she had to pay a $250 towing fee and a $50 storage charge, Ms. Boyer said. With no insurance and a part-time job paying $9 an hour, Ms. Boyer said she couldn't afford the fee.

"I pretty much bawled my eyeballs out all day long," Ms. Boyer said, adding her long walk inflames her arthritis. Since the end of October, storage fees have inflated the impound bill to more than $3,000 for a 1997 Ford Taurus, Mr. Robbins said.

Mr. Robbins, who agreed to pay the fee, tried to retrieve the car from LAG Towing's Carey Avenue shop on Thursday, but refused to pay when Mr. Glodzik insisted he pay in cash and declined to allow Ms. Boyer to see the car first, Mr. Robbins said.

Contact the writer: astaub@citizensvoice.com