A NextDoor posting by a neighbor in the 800 block questioning why Lime Scooters were being parked around his house led to a call for New Mark’s towing service to check it out.
After the Board of Directors were asked during Community Forum at their August meeting whether this was an appropriate use of common or private property in New Mark, the Board asked Abaris management to look into it. Abaris in turn engaged Henry’s Wrecker Service—the company with whom the community has a contract for towing illegally parked vehicles—on the case.
By August 14, the scooters were gone, according to Abaris official Henry Leung who personally checked out the site. Henry’s Wrecker Service (no relation to Henry Leung) had tagged the vehicles with a 48-hour warning: Either the company had to remove them, or they would be towed. It appeared the company picked them up.
The contract between Henry’s Wrecker Service and New Mark Commons allows Management to authorize the towing contractor to send in trucks to tow illegally parked vehicles at the expense of the offending vehicle owner. New Mark posted signs in commonly-owned parking areas last year to this effect—part of the requirement under the law to allow HOAs to have vehicles towed.
New Mark does not pay anything to Henry’s Wrecker Service under the contract.
Lime scooters are electrified scooters that users can engage using an App. Riders can pick them up anywhere and drop them anywhere. The company, using a special tracking system, will pick them up and recharge them for another use.