City Might Tow Illegal Parkers

If you've been running up unpaid parking tickets in Cambridge, you'd better watch out: the City Fathers may soon have an unpleasant surprise for you.

On Monday, the City Council advanced an ordinance which would allow City police to tow and impound any car with five or more unpaid parking tickets on it. In order to get his car back, the owner would have to pay the tickets plus towing charges.

Under the ordinance, police would keep a list of the license numbers of all cars with five unpaid tickets; beat Patrolmen would have copies of the list. "Kind of like the ten most wanted men," City Councillor Edward A. Crane '35 commented during Council discussions of the bill.

The outgoing Council is speeding up work on the ordinance, so it can be passed before heavy snows hit. City snow removal operations are often hampered by illegally parked cars, many of them owned by students. Final action on the bill is scheduled for the December 29 Council meeting.