Proceed cautiously with junk car enforcement

Getting junk vehicles out of neighborhoods — that’s the intent of an updated city of Santa Fe ordinance that takes effect this week. And who doesn’t want to see rusting old trucks or cars disposed of properly instead of rusting next door? But like so much in law, how the ordinance will be enforced makes a difference. Details matter.

After all, one person’s junk can be someone else’s classic car waiting to be restored. Since the internal combustion engine came to Santa Fe, it’s safe to say people who loved tinkering with motors often kept an extra car on hand for parts. Classic cars are a popular hobby in town; those vehicles, even when they’re not up and running, aren’t seen as junk by their owners.

The revised ordinance — Vehicle Blight in Neighborhoods is the official title — promises to define what is junk. Sponsors say the ordinance won’t penalize people who fix up cars or who collect antique cars.

Enforced correctly, it will remove blight, with its genesis in a 12-month period — April 2020 to April 2021 — during which constituent services received 183 unsightly yard or nuisance/blighted property complaints. The ordinance was introduced in April and went through committees and a public hearing before approval in July. Now comes the hard part: enforcement. That’s because even with concrete definitions written in the ordinance, reasonable people will disagree.

The revisions define a junk vehicle as any automobile with one or both of the following characteristics for 90 days or more: The vehicle is inoperable and fails to meet minimum legal requirements to be operated on New Mexico’s public streets and highways, and it has been continuously inoperable or has been wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled or abandoned. Exempt are special-interest vehicles, defined as ones not less than 35 years old that are being preserved or restored by a collector.

A big change: Storing vehicles is more complicated. Trees, shrubs or tarps no longer will be considered appropriate screening for inoperable vehicles. Considering how many garages have been turned into dens in Santa Fe, we see this as a potential sticking point. People are used to storing the extra car — perhaps a classic waiting restoration — covered by a tarp in a driveway or in a side yard. This provision might need further consideration.

Fines will not be cheap: $100 a day — with a cap of $9,000 — are meant to show the city means business. The enforcement office, too, is now adequately staffed. Or so the city claims. Adequate staffing means code enforcement officers can follow through on complaints, fine violators and make sure junk vehicles are removed.

However, before any fines are assessed or vehicles removed, the city must do a thorough job of informing people about new rules. The city will “ease into” enforcement, and that’s a good thing.

Write warnings first. More than one, if necessary. Help residents find ways to remove the cars or trucks; charities might want some of the vehicles. Connect vehicle owners with nonprofits that accept vehicle donations. Many people, especially elderly residents, lack resources to afford a tow truck to remove the car or truck. How can Santa Fe help those people so they don’t end up owing more in fines than the junk is worth?

A city so concerned about burdening poor people that it stops sending ticket scofflaw information to the state Motor Vehicle Division — no driver’s licenses revoked here for failure to pay tickets — really shouldn’t be in the business of placing fat liens against property. That’s hardly consistent.

Yes, identify junk vehicles and help owners to dispose of them properly. But code enforcement must not become a cudgel against people with few resources. That’s no way to clean up Santa Fe.