Duct Tape and a Marker

At the beginning of 2019, I noticed an old Ford Taurus some blocks away. It had the driver's side front window broken out, and a Pennsylvania transit tag. I wondered whether it had been stolen and abandoned. I mentioned it to one of police officers who sometimes park and wait in the church parking lot across from the end of our street. He may have looked at the car, but nothing happened. My wife remarked that the police can't tow in our neighborhood unless a car has expired tags. The transit tag expired on February 1: 2/1/19

A day or two after the beginning of that February, I happened to remember the car, and had a look. Someone had put a strip of duct tape across the bottom of tag. The 1s and 9 had been extended with marker, the "2" had become a "3", and now the tag appeared to expire on 3/1/19. The missing window was covered with plastic. Of course, April required some more creative work. At some point the broken window was replaced, and a sign was taped on, offering it for sale.

I pretty much forgot about the car until one summer morning I noticed broken glass on that street. I looked about for a car with a broken window, and spotted the Taurus across the street, with plastic over the back left window this time. The transit tag now appeared to expire on 8/1/19.

A mile or so south of here, where one needs a zone permit to park for more than a couple of hours, this would never happen. The parking enforcement staff patrol constantly with license-plate readers, and issue tickets all the time. The Taurus would have been repeatedly ticketed, and probably towed early in February 2019. But our neighborhood does not have these restrictions on parking. There are fewer opportunities to write tickets, and the enforcement staff seem to come around less often.

A couple of months ago, I noticed the Taurus again, again with driver's window broken out. By then I was wondering whether it was a bait car set out by the police. I did not care to call the 4th District to inquire, and perhaps bring more trouble on an owner apparently down on his luck. Had the car been parked on my block I might have decided otherwise.

A few weeks ago I saw a notice to tow on the windshield. The grounds stated were lack of valid tags--duct tape and markers go only so far--and apparent inoperability. Yesterday I saw that the car was gone. I assume the city towed it.