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June 20, 2006
On Their Tows: 'Brave One,' NYPD Make New Fans on Upper East Side
Good morning, New York--especially those of you on the Upper East Side! I know it can be kind of tough to get up and at 'em on such a sluggish, sultry day, but a few of you might take a cue from the NYPD, which arrived in Yorkville at 7 a.m. to tow your cars before Jodie Foster and Neil Jordan showed up to work on their new film The Brave One.
Consider yourself warned (Photos: STV)
The parking enforcement unit and the production company had posted some pretty conspicuous notices around the neighborhood sometime last weekend, politely if not directly warning residents that any cars parked on East 87th, 88th, or 89th Streets and the bordering stretches of Lexington and Third Avenue on the morning of June 20 would be subject to removal--towed to the "nearest legal parking space." And they were not messing around: By 9 a.m., a pair of tow trucks had relocated at least a half-dozen vehicles to Third Avenue just above 90th Street.
"There is no cost or penalty to owners of relocated cars," read the notices supplied by Redemption Pictures (IMDB lists Warner Bros. as the attached studio). "In the event that your car is relocated, contact either one of our parking assistants or your local police precinct. With a description and/or a plate number, they will tell you where your car can be found."
Good morning, gentlemen. Who wants to make a movie?
So with all of this in mind, who are Jodie Foster's biggest fans this morning?
The owner of this Pathfinder will be thrilled to have had this tow truck driver in his car, just as nearby residents were overjoyed by the two minutes of car-alarm noise that resulted at 8 a.m.
To the driver with the New York license plate DJV 9746....
... and the driver with the Florida plate A54 2IE ...
And the owner of this Toyota Sienna from Pennsylvania, FSM 3911 ...
... your cars are a few blocks uptown.
Really, it didn't seem like anybody parked on East 88th Street had heeded the yellow notices the city had posted, but it seemed unreasonable that the NYPD would devote two trucks to towing every car parked between Third and Lexington--easily more than 20 in all. I asked a member of the film crew how the drivers decided which cars they would take away.
"They're taking all of them," he said.
"All of them?" I asked, stunned.
Brave One crew members cordon off East 88th Street, which will be used, however ironically, as the location of a traffic jam
The man nodded, inducing me to wonder who pays for all of that. Surely, the Mayor's film office, which provides free police presence for film shoots and hands out location permits like Chinese restaurant menus, could not be so generous as to pick up the tab for a pair of NYPD tow truck drivers at roughly three hours each. Indeed, a film office spokeswoman told me this morning, the production company incurs the cost, but she said she did not have the specifcs on what that amount might be.
Next I called the NYPD, from whom I figured I could get a ballpark figure or even a few charges for previous films. I also thought New Yorkers might want to know how much money is outstanding while the city waits for reimbursement. Alas, after 10 minutes on hold, I was required to leave a message.
So--anyone want to place any bets on the going rate for a morning's worth of parking enforcement? And does anybody have any fun stories about your own cars being relocated for the sake of cinema?
UPDATE: OMG! OMG! Fuck the car! It's Terrence Howard!
Posted by stvanairsdale at June 20, 2006 11:06 AM
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Comments
Many years ago, on the morning after a bachelor party, we headed downstairs. As I didn't have much luggage, I offered to carry down one of the pieces of drug paraphenelia, a "Kab-Boom". For those unfamiliar with such an animal, it's one of the world's largest Bongs, made up of 3" PVC tubing.
Everything was fine until we went out to 45th street (Near Grand Central Station). When we got outside, what should we see, but the area crawling with cops, who had come there for a movie shoot or parade. So, there I was, with the worlds largest Bong, and not only did I have to walk through all these cops, but we also had to ask them where they had moved our car to!
Needless to say, I was very happy that nobody asked to look into the bag, nor what was in our pockets.
Therefore, be very careful about what's in your pockets before you approach the Po-Lice.
Posted by: James Stone at June 20, 2006 08:46 PM
this is based on charges from 3-4 years ago. the city charged production companies $200-300 per tow truck for 4 hrs. max.
in addition, 1-4 tow trucks required payment for the supervisor in charge, it's approx. $50-$60/per hour. 4 hr minimum.
for the tow truck drivers, it's approx. $30-$40/per hour, 4 hr minimum.
Posted by: the onion at June 20, 2006 10:10 PM
check out the site.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/news/star_hodge.shtml
Posted by: the onion at June 20, 2006 10:16 PM
Hi,
The production companies pay hundreds of dollars for the tow trucks and police enforcement which are otherwise off duty. The police are paid the next week and I believe the tow trucks need to be paid in advance. So the city doesn't wait for any reimbursement nor is it out any tow trucks or police personnel because they are off-duty.
Posted by: alexis at June 20, 2006 10:38 PM
Production companies do not pay for these tow trucks. It is an effort by the mayor's office to actually lessen the impact of films on a neighborhood and provide residents with parking up until the last possible moment. Before this was instituted, the production company would take the parking from the last street cleaning date...thus holding parking for up to three days for one day of filming. Now it is up to the residents due diligence to be aware of their parking. ps- signs are always posted previous to the last street sweepeing.
Posted by: Remo at June 21, 2006 09:41 AM
Welcome to New York
Posted by: Anonymous at June 25, 2006 12:52 PM