Sal's Honda odyssey
Not stolen, just towed (2 blocks)
It turns out Sal Albanese’s car wasn’t stolen after all.
The NYPD said Sunday that it towed the Democratic mayoral candidate’s ride from a Queens neighborhood street fair to a spot around the block — because Albanese had parked in an area that was off-limits during the event.
Albanese insisted he was legally parked and said the debacle was nothing short of a “bureaucratic nightmare” as he drove around Sunday hunting for his vehicle.
“That’s my car — crap!’’ Albanese shouted as he spotted his wife’s silver 2007 Honda Fit, 2¹/2 blocks from where he parked it the day before.
“This was a massive screw-up. I’m pissed off,” he said.
Albanese had been at the Long Island City gathering for about an hour Saturday, pressing flesh and talking to local police about crime, before heading off to find his car.
When he couldn’t locate it, Albanese called 311 — twice — but city operators said they had no record of it being towed.
Thinking the car had been stolen, Albanese tried to file a police report, but cops said he couldn’t because the vehicle was registered to his wife, who was out of town.
“As far as I was concerned, the car was gone into the ether. I thought it was in a chop shop,” Albanese said.
The former city councilman said he learned that the car had been moved by police only when a reporter told him cop sources had ’fessed up to it.
A police source admitted to The Post that at least some responsibility for the snafu rested with cops.
“When a car is moved, the list is supposed to be sent to precinct,” the source said. “For whatever reason, that didn’t happen this time.”
Albanese claims he parked the car in a legal spot “nowhere close” to the perimeter of the event.
He said that when he went to retrieve his ride, the street was packed with other vehicles — in- cluding one in his spot.
Albanese stopped short of saying any political shenanigans were involved in the incident, instead speculating it was the work of a “renegade tow-truck driver.”
There was nothing indicating the car belonged to Albanese — although his blazer with campaign buttons was visible inside.
“Obviously, when you’re running for office, you have enemies, but I don’t think any of them would go to that extent,” he said.
Police did not respond to Albanese’s claim that he was parked legally, only saying at least two other cars were towed near the event.