The Wake

Rage, bewilderment, wildly throwing punches in the air all are common symptoms of being “booted,” or having one’s vehicle immobilized for parking in the wrong spot.

Because of the nature of the practice, immobilizing vehicles often results in an intense confrontation between the person who has been booted and the person collecting the fee for removing the boot, which is usually around $100. For this reason, some Minneapolis City Council members, including Paul Zerby, are in favor of enacting a ban on devices that immobilize vehicles. Zerby’s ward includes the University of Minnesota campus and its surrounding areas, where booting has been an issue for a while.

“I had only been gone for about a minute,” Vinh Chung says, who returned to a booted car one day in late August. Chung, who works as event coordinator for Intramural Sports at the university, was picking up a sub from Milio’s (formerly Big Mike’s) on Oak Street and parked in a spot reserved for patrons of Campus Bikes, which is across the parking lot from Milio’s. He figured the boarded up windows at Campus Bikes meant it was okay to park there.

Each business owns or pays for their part of the lot, according to Stub & Herb’s owner Sue Jeffers. She says that even if visitors park in a space owned by one business and visit another that also owns part of the lot, they still will be booted. Although it is closed, Campus Bikes still owns part of the lot.

“To put it plainly, you would have to be an idiot to park in the wrong spot,” Jeffers says adding that there are signs that clearly state which spots belong to each business.

Chung pleaded with the worker from the booting company, trying to explain that the spot was technically unmarked and that Campus Bikes was closed. Realizing that his appeal was going nowhere, he reluctantly paid his $113 fine.

“It was ultimately my fault,” Chung says who admitted he could have found a better place to park. “It’s just one of those things that happens, but there are a lot of other dudes who would have popped the guy.”

“When businesses began using booting services about four years ago, it was a nightmare,” says Jim Rosvold, president of the Stadium Village Commercial Association and owner of Campus Pizza. Since then, things have gotten much better and he chooses not to use vehicle immobilization.

Steve Antenucci, executive director of Theatre in the Round, located at the Seven Corners Area near the university’s West Bank regretfully resorted to using an immobilization service about a year ago. The theater has an unusual problem because if one vehicle parks in a certain spot, it restricts other vehicles’ access to the building.

Antenucci says the theater tried everything from stationing an unpaid volunteer at the trouble spot to eventually using a towing service. The theater turned to a booting service because motorists would leave before tow trucks arrived.

Acknowledging that many conflicts have occurred between motorists and booting company employees, Antenucci feels that there is no other alternative to keep this passage to the theater clear. Because of that, he says he will testify at an upcoming public hearing in favor of keeping booting as an option.

Although most city council members agree that booting invites conflict, some believe it is necessary in certain situations. Council Member Sandy Colvin-Roy points to an incident when her daughter needed medical attention and she had to park two blocks away from a Lake Street clinic because vehicles were parked illegally in the clinic’s lot.

Council Member Zerby notes that it was difficult to pass legislation banning the practice because “while the industry is very organized, it’s difficult for people who have been victimized to unite.”

A public hearing concerning the ban is set for Oct. 27 at 1:30 p.m. in the city council chambers at Minneapolis City Hall. After the hearing, the city council will decide whether or not to bring a motion to ban booting to a vote at an upcoming meeting. Meetings are held every other Friday morning.