Mitts drops plan to raise boot removal fees paid with plastic

Motorists who park illegally in private lots, have their vehicles booted and use credit cards to pay the $140 removal fee won’t be charged more after all if they choose to pay with plastic.

Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) chairman of the City Council’s License Committee, on Wednesday abandoned her plan to empower private booters now roaming free in more than half of Chicago to charge a “convenience fee” to recoup the processing fee they must absorb when motorists use credit cards.

“Some of my colleagues have concerns about it. . . . If it’s gonna hurt the consumer, that may not be what I want to do. I ain’t trying to make my constituents [pay more]. We’ve got a enough problems already,” Mitts said.

Ald. John Arena (45th) led the opposition. He called the convenience fee “piling on.”

“Wards have to opt into the booting. There’s a few companies that are permitted to do it. To further hit the consumer with another tack-on fee [is unfair]. They’re doing fine. This isn’t something that’s gonna put them out of business. And we continue to keep pushing more, pushing more on the consumer,” he said.

“If you do make this mistake, to have to take two hours out of your day to go to some lot somewhere on the far end of the city without a car [is enough of a pain]. To then hit `em for the convenience of using a credit card? It just felt like it was a bit of a grab.”

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) added, “I’d be a little concerned if we started tacking on additional fees for, what essentially is a high-priced boot already. $140 is pretty high. It’s slightly more than a tow truck.”

Earlier this year, the City Council slapped a 50-cent surcharge on taxicab fares paid by credit card to provide a small measure of relief to cabdrivers fighting for survival in the Uber-era.

Last month, Mitts proposed giving private booters that same relief. She argued that, ““Everybody needs a level playing field.”

The now abandoned ordinance did not specify the amount or percentage of the convenience fee. It simply empowered private booters to tack a “reasonable convenience fee” onto “non-cash” payments.

Emanuel’s tax-laden, 2016 budget raised the city’s booting fee by a whopping 66 percent — from $60 to $100. It was the first such fee hike in more than a decade.

Private booters have a maximum removal fee of $140. They were already empowered to operate in 26 of Chicago’s 50 wards, including downtown’s 42nd Ward, the 43rd Ward, which includes congested Lincoln Park, and the 44th Ward, which includes Lakeview and Wrigley Field.

At Wednesday’s License Committee meeting, the 16th and 28th Wards were added to the mix.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) cited two reasons for climbing aboard the private booting bandwagon. He wants to help businesses in the Madison-Pulaski corridor rid their lots of non-customers avoiding parking meter fees. And he wants to stop loitering and the crime that often comes with it.

“We’ve had a lot of challenges–literally on the corner of Madison and Pulaski. Then, I have another at Madison and Springfield…We’re trying to come up with additional ways to help clean up that area…I’m willing to give this a shot,” Ervin said.

Small businesses struggling to survive in congested Chicago neighborhoods view booting as a kinder, gentler and less-costly way to handle the chronic problem of parking poachers. It doesn’t require towing, which could damage the car.

But over the years, the burgeoning use of private booting has been mired in controversy.

In 1999, then-License Committee Chairman Eugene Schulter persuaded the City Council to prohibit private booting amid reports of price-gouging and fisticuffs.

Eighteen months later, he put the weapon back in the arsenal of neighborhood retailers with the consent of the local alderman, provided booting companies obtain city licenses and abide by strict regulations governing everything from fees, insurance and signs to staffing and credit card payments.

In 2004, private booters were further required to wait 15 minutes after a vehicle is parked before booting and to post signs informing motorists who return to their vehicles before the boot is fully applied of their right to demand removal at no charge.

It’s not the first time that Mitts has introduced an ordinance only to walk away from it.

Last month, she pulled the plug on her own strip club ordinance for the second — and, she said, final time — amid fierce opposition from women’s advocacy groups.

Mitts said she didn’t want to put her colleagues on the hot seat. Nor did she have any desire to appear as if she’s doing the bidding of Perry Mandera, owner of VIP’s A Gentleman’s Club.