: 1189202003

Bloumie Papalazalou initially believed that her car was stolen from the parking lot at Whitestone Shopping Center when, several months ago, she returned from Key Foods to find it missing.

“I go to buy some oil and then I come out and I said, ‘Where’s my car?’” she said.

As it turned out, Papalazalou’s car wasn’t stolen – it was towed for being illegally parked in one of the lot’s reserved spaces for employees.

Papalazalou said she was unaware that the section she parked in along the lot’s fence is for employees only. Following her mistake, she paid a fee of $162 to get her car back.

Now Papalazalou said she fears coming to the lot because of the tow trucks looming around the corner waiting to tow illegally parked cars, many of whose owners don’t know that they’re occupying reserved spots.

“I’m scared because I never know,” Papalazalou said.

In response to numerous complaints received about towing at the shopping center, Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) is proposing that the city adopt stricter rules for towing from private lots.

Avella said he receives three to five complaints a week from people whose cars have been towed from the Whitestone lot and who, oftentimes, weren’t aware they parked illegally.

“I’ve had some seniors call up crying on the phone,” Avella said. “They can’t afford it.”

Avella said there should be clear signs indicating where it’s illegal to park in all lots. He pointed to signs along the fence covered by brush indicating that the spaces were for employees.

Once hooked up to a tow truck, Avella said a car owner must pay a $50 fee to get their vehicle returned; the fee increases to $100 once the car leaves the lot. In some cases, Avella says he has helped drivers to get at least a partial refund of the towing fee.

Avella is drafting legislation to amend the Department of Consumer Affairs’ rules and regulations to establish limits on the fee towing companies are allowed to charge, to require additional signs to delineate employee and customer parking and to require property owners provide prior notification to customers that a towing policy is being put into effect. Avella says early notification should take place at least one week prior to initiating the policy and local police precincts, community boards and council members should be made aware.

A representative from the Whitestone shopping center’s owner, Punia and Marx, Inc. said the tow company only tows cars that are illegally parked. “You park in the legal parking zone nobody bothers you,” he said.

A representative from Infinity Towing and Recovery said the company has actually been more lenient lately and for the past two weeks has not been towing cars from spaces marked for employees.

He also noted that prior to beginning towing for the center a year and a half ago, signs notifying customers of the policy were up for three to four weeks.

But the representative said the company just tries to follow the regulations in place.

“Unfortunately, it’s just the rules of the shopping center,” he said, adding “we bend rules that shouldn’t be bent; we give a lot to the people down there.”

Local residents hope the situation will change and that less towing will take place.

“They tow your car so fast they don’t even give you a chance,” said Whitestone resident Nancy Roveto, who shops at the center several times a week. “They’re so mean.”

“You run into the store real quick and they still tow your car away,” she said.