Real ID or passport will be needed to fly starting Oct. 1

QDo we need a Real ID at all if we have a passport? What’s the deal about an Oct. 1 deadline? — Laurie Roberts, San Jose

AA passport works. You can also apply for a Real ID after Oct. 1. That is when people who want to use their driver’s license or ID card to board a domestic flight within the U.S. and to enter secure federal facilities will need to show a federally compliant Real ID license with special markings.

You can apply for a Real ID online at REALID.dmv. ca.gov. You need to present documentation that includes one identity/birth document, a Social Security number and two proofs of residency.

Q

Help! I have had an abandoned car sitting in front of my house now for ONE year and 5 months. I would say that is over 72 hours. I have reported it using 311. No luck so far getting it tagged or towed.

— Carol Bish, San Jose

A

San Jose parking compliance activities were suspended in

March 2020, as they were considered nonessential. Since then, the city has brought parking compliance back slowly, in stages, keeping in mind that many people don’t have anywhere to move their cars as they either work remotely or have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

Now the city is reviewing vehicle abatement requests and only following up on those that include photos that show a vehicle is clearly nonoperational or poses a health, safety or extreme blight concern. Parking officers are also patrolling every street in the city, citing and/or towing vehicles that meet these criteria.

This approach has been much more effective in removing derelict vehicles. Officers spend far less time making repeated visits to vehicles that haven’t moved in 72 hours or more, but quickly come into compliance and avoid towing by moving a small distance after receiving a warning. If the vehicle meets any of the following criteria, submit a photo with a request to SJ 311, documenting the problem:

• Missing a windshield

• Missing the driver’s seat

• Missing two or more wheels

• Missing the steering wheel

• Missing an engine

• Has any damage substantial enough that the vehicle is rendered completely immobile

• Sitting on jacks or blocks

• Missing or has shattered windows

• Vandalized / graffiti

• Has significantly flat tires

• Missing both front and back license plate

QDoes Caltrans have a warehouse full of ladders pulled from highways, because a day hardly ever goes by without one of those 911 calls as I listen to radio dispatchers? — Tony DiBenedetto, San Jose

AWhen ladders are recovered on the freeway, they are almost always damaged, unstable and unsafe and are discarded by Caltrans,