January 9, 2005 8:08 AM

Another DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener

CITY HALL BLOWOUT: After a breakdown on the policy freeway, Mayor Bill White’s Safe Clear wrecker plan needs a tow truck

SafeClear: How it works

DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener #177: David Saperstein

I admire government taking bold risks, especially if the intent is to increase public safety. Houston’s new SafeClear program, designed to facilitate the speedy and safe removal of disabled vehicles from Houston’s freeways, has some real potential, but it’s beginning to appear as if it may have been implemented before the program had been thoroughly thought through. The man on the hook for this fiasco is mayoral aide David Saperstein.

The plan to clear disabled vehicles from Houston’s freeways has a worthy goal: reduced congestion and fewer accidents. However, the plan’s implementation has not gone the way mayoral adviser David Saperstein envisioned when he presented the program to City Council. In the first days of operation, far more cars got towed than were projected after trial runs. Irate citizens deluged local media with calls and letters protesting the six-minute deadline for getting cars off freeways and the steep tow truck fees. If owners can’t afford to pay, their vehicles can be impounded and eventually sold.

Even the most cursory examination of the plan leads one to suspect that low-income people or their representatives had little or no effective input. Poor people as a rule drive older vehicles more likely to break down, even if serviced regularly. Rather than relying on AAA cards or cash for emergency towing, the poor call friends to help them in the event of a breakdown. Nothing in the initial Safe Clear plan indicates any consideration was given to accommodate low-income drivers in a city with underdeveloped mass transit.

Saperstein, who made his fortune in radio traffic reports, and associates also failed to provide answers for what happens to vulnerable motorists and passengers if their car is towed away. State Sen. John Whitmire says police officials told him passengers and kids would be deposited at the nearest supermarket, fire station or police facility. That’s unacceptable. As Whitmire said, “They’ve got to go back to the drawing board on that one.”

In a well-meant effort to increase public safety, Saperstein has shepherded the creation of a program that has something designed to piss off virtually everyone.

The way the system is set up, each segment of freeway is assigned to a specific towing company that has signed a contract with the city of Houston. Even if you own your own wrecker company, if your vehicle is disabled you MUST use the wrecker company assigned to the area where you vehicle is located. There are no options. You cannot use AAA, the wrecker called by your insurance company, or even a friend who may be willing to come and tow your vehicle.

Saperstein has created a monster, and he has gotten Mayor Bill White to sign off on it. Mayor White is a smart guy, but I doubt he saw this one coming, perhaps because he assumed that Saperstein had done his homework.

As public criticism mounted, Mayor White indicated he might return Safe Clear to policy mechanic Saperstein for some fine tuning, including free towing for indigent drivers. If a car is on the shoulder with a flat tire, and an inflated spare is in the trunk, why not help the motorist quickly change the tire? If a car is disabled by a dead battery, why not give it a jump and send it on its way? What commandment prohibits helping motorists in distress?

Also, drivers who cannot pay on the spot should be billed and given 30 days to pay up before having their vehicle seized or credit ruined. The towing program should not cause someone to lose his job because his car was impounded.

The problems encountered so far could have and should have been foreseen and worked out before tow trucks hit the freeways. It’s one more indication that the mayor’s penchant for designing policy in private with handpicked advisers needs to change so more voices can be heard.

SafeClear has some potential. The idea behind the program is certainly laudable. Nonetheless, David Saperstein can and should be held responsible for implementing SafeClear city-wide before thoroughly examining the issues that would be created by forcing a program of this magnitude on Houston motorists.

Not just any DUMB@$$ can piss off an entire city. David Saperstein, it would appear, is definitely NOT your garden-variety DUMB@$$. Through hard work and a lack of due diligence, he has managed to aggravate entire city- no mean feat. Nice going, eh?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 9, 2005 8:08 AM.

Preparing the next in line was the previous entry in this blog.

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