NEW ORLEANS — Disagreements between neighbors are inevitable. But when homeowners trying to carve out a family-friendly quality of life clash with a busy commercial tow yard for wrecked cars, the disputes can get heated.
That precise scenario is playing out in the heart of Mid-City. The friction has become so intense that it has reached the corridors of City Hall. And in one startling twist, the city may be violating its own laws.
The zoning dispute is obvious from a quick glance at the 1900 block of Iberville Street. A new two-story house sits smack in the middle of high corrugated metal fencing that contains a tow lot full of damaged vehicles on both sides.
“Sometimes the cars stack up over the fence height. They stack them on top of each other,” said Christopher Moore, who is renovating a church across from the tow lot to be his home.
“The 10-foot to 15-foot fence that's obviously not for a residential area,” Moore said. “We’ve had rat problems. We’ve had cat problems, dog problems. And of course the garbage and the amount of vehicles that they park on the street here.”
The tow yard is owned by Mid-City Towing, an extension of Mid-City Auto Repair shop, which sits on the other side of the block fronting Canal Street.
While the repair shop sits on a lot zoned for commercial use, city records show the Iberville half of the block is zoned residential. Specifically, it is zoned “Historic Urban Two-Family Residential District.”
Moore has been renovating a church to be his home across from the lot. He is one of the property owners who have filed complaints with New Orleans Code Enforcement, complaints accompanied by pictures of wrecked cars and graffiti-filled fencing.
Even before Moore called, city inspectors recorded complaints for years ranging from noise and debris to rodents and weeds, to fence height, city records show.
But one complaint overshadows all the others: “Operating a tow yard in a residential area.”
“The trucks are by here 50 times a day, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. They're nonstop,” Moore said.
I'm sorry about the view
A local developer recently completed six apartments directly across from the tow lot. The developer said he finally reached a point when the apartments are ready to be leased, but he has to apologize to prospective tenants about the view of the tow yard from the upstairs balconies.
The complaints have reached Councilwoman Lesli Harris, whose District B includes the problematic block. Her staff researched complaints going back before she took office and found the same series of violations. She said she had alerted the city administration.
Repeatedly.
“Every time we get a complaint, we push. Every time we try to seek an update, we push. And it all comes back to, it's under investigation, we'll get back to you,” Harris said.
Harris said that amid all the noise and graffiti complaints, the fundamental dispute at the heart of the matter is obvious.
“That is the big elephant in the room,” Harris said, “you can't operate this business in a zoned residential neighborhood.”
The last straw
For Michael Robinette and his family, the last straw happened last January. He had already complained about the flat-bed tow trucks barreling down the street at all hours, when one of them hit his car.
“One of those times it actually hit my car late at night and they just drove off,” Robinette said.
He figured out it was a Mid-City tow truck because his security camera caught the collision. He went to the owners of the business.
“I asked for his insurance company and he just told me it was time for me to leave and do what you gotta do, I tow for the city and he virtually just walked me out the door,” he said.
Robinette recently filed a lawsuit against Mid-City Automotive asking for the $9,000 dollars he claims he spent on repairs.
But what about the business owner saying he tows for the city?
Turns out it’s true.
Mid-City is currently on the New Orleans Police Department's vendor list to tow cars, according to city records.
The business relationship goes back to the previous administration under Mayor Mitch Landrieu and was continued under Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Back then, the contract was for “junked vehicle evaluation and disposal services for abandoned vehicles,” the contract states.
The arrangement is now limited to towing cars for the NOPD.
Harris said she was surprised to learn that the city was paying to have cars towed to a lot that is zoned for residential use.
“I did know that the city had a contract with Mid-City Towing,” she said. “But I had no idea where they towed the cars to.”
In other words, it appears the city is paying to have cars towed to a lot at the same time it’s looking into whether the lot is operating illegally.
“The city needs to do its job and enforce its own zoning laws,” Harris said. “Hopefully, with your investigation, we'll see progress.”
Owner says he's a good neighbor
But as with most disputes, there's another side to this story. We spoke to Mid-City owner Chris Fraino, who says he tries to be a good neighbor, including cleaning up any debris.
He spoke to WWL Louisiana at his shop.
“You come by here tomorrow at five o'clock, there won't be a piece of paper out there,” Fraino said.
But Fraino merely leases the property for his businesses from prominent local developer Robert Lupo, owner of Lupo Enterprises.
While Councilwoman Harris was told any enforcement is on hold while the city conducts “title research” to determine who owns the property, city records clearly list Lupo’s company as the owner. The property also is prominently shown on the company website.
Not only that, Lupo readily admitted in a phone interview that he owns the property. He said the Iberville dispute only recently came to his attention.
He said, “We were kind of surprised. We're doing research now and whatever the right thing is, that's what we're going to do."
As for Mid-City Towing, Fraino said he'll go along with whatever the city rules.
“If it stays residential, then we'll just move off the lot,” he said.
WWL Louisiana reached out to the city and received a response from spokesman John Lawson. In an email, Lawson wrote that the code enforcement department has not had any open complaints from that block since 2017.
Not only does the city's own website show numerous open cases, but a recent email from Code Enforcement Director Anthony Davis to a complaining resident states, “I completely understand your frustration and evident lack of action. Thank you to Council B for bringing it to my attention. I plead your patience for just a few moments, as I look into this situation.”
The city previously scheduled dates to hear the open code violation complaints, but those were postponed. No new date has been set.
But for now, the 1900 block of Iberville stands as an exception to the poet Robert Frost's famous line, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
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