WICKER PARK— Earlier this week, Ald. Joe Moreno (1st) introduced legislation to protect drivers from what he described as "predatory practices" by parking lot management companies that are too quick to boot and tow cars parked in private lots.
But while the proposed law would force companies to wait 10 minutes before booting you, it would also result in higher fees for getting a boot removed.
Currently, a 2015 law allows companies to legally boot cars parked in private lots in about half of the city's wards, include Moreno's 1st Ward, but companies cannot charge a driver more than $140 to get the boot unlocked from their car wheel.
If Moreno's measure passes, boot removal fees could go up to $180 — which is better for motorists ultimately, he said.
"The ordinance provides for more notice and increases the fee for booting companies to be more competitive with the towing industry (which charges much more). Having tow trucks driving around the city is much more damaging to the environment, and the process of getting your car back when booted, vs. towed, is much more convenient," Moreno said in an email.
Moreno hopes the grace period, which will be enforced through time-stamped photographs, will cut down on the number of instances in which drivers get their cars booted "only a minute" after leaving the premises, he wrote in a letter to constituents on Thursday.
That very thing happened to Logan Square resident Christine Veit Friday morning.
On her way to Nashville for the holiday weekend, Veit says she parked for under five minutes in a strip mall parking lot at 1520 N. Damen Ave. in Wicker Park to grab coffee from La Colombe, located under the nearby L tracks, where it is often impossible to find a spot to park.
When Veit returned to her car, the driver's side front wheel had been booted by an enforcement worker from Bucktown-based Innovative Parking Solutions.
The worker from Innovative Parking Solutions, who was observed sitting in a parked SUV and monitoring the lot, declined to comment.
Veit, distraught over having to charge $140 to her credit card to get the boot removed, said that she regretted not putting her hazard lights on, though it likely would not have made a difference.
"I figured it was ok. I was gone less than five minutes," Veit said.
A car boot is unlocked by a worker on Friday morning. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
Chanel Pinnack, manager of Wicker Park's Massage Envy, one of several businesses located in the strip mall where Veit's car was booted, said she sees the same situation happen at least once a day.
Pinnick called the proposed grace period a "great idea," that would prevent Veit and others from getting fines after quickly parking to grab a doughnut from Stan's or tacos from the Big Star takeout window.
"I have always wondered why they don't have a grace period, sometimes the [boot] guy is there within seconds literally," she said, adding "people are livid" when they return to their cars.
Harish Doshi, a 7-Eleven franchisee who runs a convenience store in the strip mall, said he hopes the amendment to the existing ordinance gets approved.
"It will help people," Doshi said. "It is insane that people cross street for a few minutes or go upstairs to the condos [above the mall] to use a bathroom at a friend's place or drop something off and get booted."
Cars can be legally booted on private property in more than half of the city after a boot ban was lifted in 2015.
Joseph Grillo of Global Parking Management, who proposed lifting the ban in 2015, said he lost about 15 percent of his business when ward boundaries were redrawn and customers were moved into wards that banned the boot.
He said when he submitted the ordinance he was desperate to keep contracts at two parking lots in Belmont Cragin that he’d held for more than 15 years.
Moreno's amendment was referred to the Committee on License and Consumer Protection, which meets next June 21. The committee's agenda won't be released until June 19.
