Over the past few months I have noticed some obnoxious business practices at work in my Broad Ripple neighborhood. If you happened to have parked at the CVS on 63rd Street after hours, then you probably have first hand experience with the flunkies at Interstate Towing. These brave and principled men wait for unsuspecting victims to park their cars in the ill displayed tow-away zone that is the CVS parking lot; then haul their vehicles off to their compound on Kitley Ave. I have witnessed the employees of Interstate Towing hide their trucks on Broadway and peer around the side of the build surreptitiously awaiting their next victim.

The price tag for a frolicsome tow to Kitley Ave: $150. But wait, there's more, that excellent price also includes the experience of being treated like a criminal by a late shift clerk who seems dissatisfied with her life and derives her pleasure from the plight of others! The $150 does not however include the price of a taxi service; which brings us to our next parasite: the cabbies. The clerks at the neighboring Village Pantry expressed to me their disdain for a certain cab driver who watches the lot from V.P. and calls the towing companies when he sees a parking offender. He waits for them to return to there nowhere to be found vehicle and amicably offers them a ride to the impound lot as if he had nothing to do with their misfortune.

While there is obviously nothing illegal about these practices, I am bothered by the manner in which this racket is performed. For the number of cars being towed every week from this lot, you would think CVS would make their signs a little more prevalent than they are. The amount of people who still make the mistake of parking there proves the signs aren't visible enough after dark. I know there are much more serious matters at hand these days, but what these guys are doing is truly greasy and low brow and I would rather not have it going down on my street. If you have absolutely nothing better to do one afternoon, call up to CVS (they are very friendly) and ask them to either put up more signage or just allow the public to park in their lot again. Thanks for letting me vent, it's all going to be okay, I feel much better now. . . .

- Ben DeCamp