
{"id":3087,"date":"2008-07-24T07:33:41","date_gmt":"2008-07-24T15:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=3087"},"modified":"2008-07-24T07:34:20","modified_gmt":"2008-07-24T15:34:20","slug":"town-owner-at-odds-over-abbey-court-towing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/07\/24\/town-owner-at-odds-over-abbey-court-towing\/","title":{"rendered":"Town, owner at odds over Abbey Court towing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href='http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/abbeycourtprotest0724081.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/abbeycourtprotest0724081.jpg\" alt=\"Martin Ayala, who lives with his family in Abbey Court in Carrboro, stands outside the Carrboro Town Hall Saturday in protest of the recent spike in towing activity of residents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cars by the apartment complex because they lack parking permits. Photo by Jordan Timpy.\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" align=\"left\" \/><\/a><em>After dozens of cars are towed, residents claim discrimination<\/p>\n<p>by <strong>Susan Dickson <\/strong><br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The owner of the majority of Abbey Court Condominiums told Mayor Mark Chilton on Monday that he would not suspend the complex\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s towing policy and that management would continue to tow residents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 vehicles that do not have parking permits. <\/p>\n<p>Chilton said he asked Ken Lucas, president and CEO of the Tar Heel Companies, to stop towing residents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cars, but that Lucas refused. The Tar Heel Companies runs Abbey Court and Lucas owns most of the units in the complex.<br \/>\nLast week, Abbey Court began towing vehicles that were parked in the apartment complex\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parking lot without permits. However, many residents were denied parking permits because their cars have dents, need paint or have a cracked windshield, according to Carrboro police.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nAccording to Chilton, Lucas said he was concerned that some people were parking there illegally to catch the bus to downtown Carrboro. In addition, according to Chilton, Lucas said he was concerned that there are people living in some of the apartments who aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t on the lease and that he was trying to use the parking permits as a method to determine where people are living. <\/p>\n<p><a href='http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/abbeycourt0724082.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/abbeycourt0724082.jpg\" alt=\"Towing notices have started appearing on windshields in Abbey Court. Photo by Jordan Timpy.\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" align=\"left\" \/><\/a>According to resident Alfonso Hernandez, Abbey Court management had 47 cars towed in one day last week.<br \/>\nHowever, Chilton said Lucas told him the complex had towed only 12 cars. <\/p>\n<p>Lucas did not return calls for comment. Lucas\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 attorney, Bart White, said on Friday that he would speak with The Citizen, but has not returned multiple calls since. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They want the cars to be pristine,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hernandez said. He said many residents believe the property managers and owners are trying to drive them away. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We started to get hints that [the property manager] didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hernandez said. <\/p>\n<p>The parking lot at Abbey Court was far from full Tuesday, as most residents have moved their cars to other locations in fear of being towed. <\/p>\n<p>Hernandez said some of the residents have staged protests outside the property manager\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office, but that many people are afraid of protesting. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re very afraid that something will happen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hernandez said. <\/p>\n<p>Antonio Matute, an Abbey Court resident for the past 10 years, said that a member of the management team implied they could call on immigration officials. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s racist,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said in Spanish. <\/p>\n<p>Residents protested at the Town Commons on Saturday morning. Chilton spoke at the protest and told residents that he supported their position on the apartment complex\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new towing policy. <\/p>\n<p>Chilton spoke to residents, many who are Latino, in Spanish. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As the mayor of Carrboro, I support the residents,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, encouraging residents to use their voices, rather than their hands, in protesting. During one altercation, a resident threw a bottle at a tow-truck driver.<\/p>\n<p>Because the parking lot is private property, the town doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any official authority over the towing policy, Chilton said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The next step may not be one for the mayor to take,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chilton said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Somebody has got to step up and help continue to deal with this situation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Chilton said there could be possible Federal Fair Housing Act violations, but that residents would need to file a complaint for an investigation to take place.<\/p>\n<p>According to Mark Dorosin, senior attorney at the UNC Center for Civil Rights, the Federal Fair Housing Act prohibits the coercion, intimidation or interference in the exercise or enjoyment of housing on account of a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. <\/p>\n<p>Dorosin said the FHA prohibits not only intentional discriminatory treatment, but also the adoption of policies or procedures that have a disparate impact on members of a protected class.<\/p>\n<p>Dorosin said if residents of the complex believe their rights are being violated, they could file a complaint with the Orange County Human Relations Commission or the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.<\/p>\n<p><a href='http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/abbeycourt072408bw.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/abbeycourt072408bw.jpg\" alt=\"Abbey Court has had a long standing policy against repair and maintenance of vehicles in its parking lot. Photo by Jordan Timpy.\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" align=\"left\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After dozens of cars are towed, residents claim discrimination by Susan Dickson Staff Writer The owner of the majority of Abbey Court Condominiums told Mayor Mark Chilton on Monday that he would not suspend the complex\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s towing policy and that management would continue to tow residents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 vehicles that do not have parking permits. Chilton said&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}