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Comment by thrownaway2424 | Hacker News Reader

Psfft, tiny violins. The author apparently wants me to sympathize because his car was towed only 15 minutes into the no-parking period in downtown SF. Probably all of the people who were on delayed buses waiting for his car to be towed out of the way thought that the fine should have been a million dollars, plus having his car dropped into the Bay.

Fact is that authentically poor people do not drive. The population of people who drive and park cars in cities skews hugely toward higher incomes.

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That is total bullshit, did you not read the article? Plenty of people work in the city and have to drive, because they cannot afford the rent to live there, or needs vehicles since they are part of their livelihood.

What do you know about "authentically poor people"? You think everyone drives BMWs and Teslas in SF and our amazing public transportation (note: sarcasm) manages to service everyone with a low-income job in the city but don't live there?

You can call it bullshit if you want, but it's a fact. First of all, you are absolutely right, BMW and Porsche and Tesla and all other luxury marks are hugely over-represented in SF.

Also, I have data and you don't. Mode share to work, by income:

< $30k: 10% by car > $100k: 26% by car

Mode share, other than work, by income:

< $30k: 15% > $100k: 33%

Parking and towing fines are practically irrelevant for the lower income people because they are highly reliant on transit and walking. Lets see an article that complains about injustice in transit fares.

http://archives.sfmta.com/cms/rbikes/documents/SFMTA-ModeSha...

What does this have to do with the observation that when a poor person gets towed, it can throw their whole life off the rails, and when a rich person gets towed, they don't even feel it? Do you think that because more poor people take public transit to work than rich people, that these stories don't matter?

Anything can do that including a health crisis (a far more common cause of financial despair), an arrest, or natural disaster. The entire premise of the article, the title of which states outright that towing fees are the worst part of inequality in America, is completely ridiculous. The worst part about inequality in America is that a million black men are in prison, and parking enforcement isn't even in the top 50 worst things about inequality in America.

What a freaking straw man's argument. Where in the article did the author state it's the "worst part of inequality of America", he merely says it's a part that's under reported and not many people are aware of.

And did you just compare horrible car towing companies to natural disasters? One is OBVIOUSLY WORSE than the other since last time I checked, tornadoes and earthquakes are not caused by greedy men working with corrupt government officially trying to squeeze money out of everyone.

In the title.

Hahahaah, did you even read that survey yourself???

"The survey was conducted as a telephone study among 520 San Francisco residents aged 18 and older during June 2011."

What if I tell you a huge portion of low income workers in SF are NOT San Francisco residents but live in other places such as the South and East Bay?

What's your suggestion? Tell them to walk from Fremont to San Francisco or build their own public transportation?

Your data is about as irrelevant as it gets for this discussion.

Gosh, you're right. The ONLY WAY to get from Fremont to San Francisco is to WALK! I'm sure that's the predominant mode.

OH SHIT WAIT. They totally have data on that too.

Of people who live in Fremont and work in San Francisco, public transit is BY FAR the predominant mode. Surprise!

http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/transportation.htm

Yes, how dare for people who needs their vehicle for work or does not work the same schedule that's convenient for public transportation right?

And even if 10% of low incomers drive vs 50% of high incomers drive, that's still more low income drivers since there are a lot more people with low income.

So what about the large number of people who drive to the city but do not make six-figures? (you can argue for the low percentage as much as you want, but the absolute number is still significant) Fuck them right?

The authentically poor do drive.

They drive over an hour and a half a day to their jobs, praying that their car doesn't break down that day. Because it has before, and they're still paying off the payday loan.

Some are commuting daily from as far as Tracy. There are places there you can rent for as low as 800. With a roommate or three you can afford the car to get in to the city or the east bay to work.

Those people drive to Pleasanton and take BART. All actual data (not your ridiculous anecdote) points to the fact that poor people use transit.

So what's your conspiracy theory? The author was lying about all the citizens waiting at the impound lot?

You don't have a clue what you're talking about & are behaving incredibly unpleasantly. Please stop.

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