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National platform · First community: Richmond, Virginia
Text Before Tow, a warning before the hook

How it works

A platform that works before any government adopts it

Text Before Tow is designed in layers: what residents can do today, what the platform publishes as work progresses, and what only becomes real with legal authority and agreements.

Open now

Community platform

  • City portals with their own forum, news, and civic actions
  • Structured incident reports and personal stories
  • Idea exchange and cited legal education
  • Petitions and newsletter subscriptions
  • Administration, moderation, and audit-friendly status changes

In progress

Publishing and research

  • Public records tracking and document library
  • Milestones and updates on every civic action
  • Idea-to-action promotion with contributor credit
  • Cross-city comparisons of notification programs

Not started

Operational notification

  • Verified vehicle associations and consent records
  • Property and towing-operator portals
  • Waiting-period rules evaluated per jurisdiction
  • Reinspection, driver response, and a full audit trail

The notification workflow

What a pre-tow notification would require

A legally authorized program is an operational system, not a text message. Each step below is recorded, and none of it exists in any city today.

  1. 1An authorized potential-tow event is submitted by a verified participant.
  2. 2Jurisdiction and applicable rules are resolved, with the rule version recorded.
  3. 3Evidence is validated and eligibility for notice is determined.
  4. 4Only an authorized contact on file is matched, never a plate lookup.
  5. 5The notice is dispatched through an approved channel and the wait begins.
  6. 6The driver's response is recorded; acknowledgment is not proof of movement.
  7. 7Reinspection happens where the law requires it.
  8. 8The request closes with a complete audit record either way.
A voluntary registry never becomes a legal requirement. If a vehicle isn't enrolled, the platform records "no contact match" and the legally required procedure applies. Absence from the registry does not satisfy a mandatory notice process.

One codebase, many cities

A city is configuration, not a fork. Hostname resolution picks the jurisdiction server-side; paths stay identical everywhere, and an unmapped hostname never falls back to Richmond.

See communities

One discussion engine

Civic actions, ideas, news, petitions, and forum posts share the same comment system with its own scoping and moderation, so conversations don't fragment.

Open the forum

Status language that doesn't overclaim

Editorial status and work status are separate. "Completed" describes the work, not the outcome, and no proposal is presented as adopted policy without documentation.

Civic Action Center

Sources you can check

Documents record their issuing organization and date. External coverage is summarized and linked, never reproduced, and every legal page says what it is not.

Document library

Registering a vehicle today reserves your contact preferences for a future authorized program. It does not create a legal right to notice, and it does not prevent a tow.

Register a vehicle