Parking boot gets the boot in one Georgia county

Associated Press

Posted on February 3, 2011 at 8:52 AM

CANTON, Ga. (AP) -- Authorities in one Georgia county are giving the parking boot -- the boot. Cherokee County Commissioners have voted to ban the booting of cars and trucks. The clamps had been placed on cars that were "illegally parked" on private property. One commissioner says car owners were being charged up to 500 bucks to have the boots removed. But the owner of a company that uses the boots defends the practice. He tells the Cherokee Tribune the clamps were mostly used to prevent overnight parking of tractor trailers.

EDITORS COMMENT:

Notice how the owner of the car booting business defends the practice by making the absurd claim that it "prevents" people from parking there. Let's examine this closer, so you see why I say it is absurd:

If you paid the wrong meter box, or didn't pay on your way to the sandwich shop, you are not suddenly "guilty" of "parking illegally." Perhaps you were entering the shop to get change for the meter. Preemptive car booting denies the motorist any semblance of due process.

They immobilize your car in their parking lot, which is an unlawful seizure of your property, then they charge you a fine, or a "release fee". They arrogantly "punish" you to deter you from violating their rules in the future. To teach you not to park there "illegally", they keep your car trapped in the very spot they supposedly don't want you to be parked in. This means that they are knowingly preventing their own lot from earning money from other motorists who might have utilized that spot.

A NOTE ABOUT THE PHRASE "ILLEGALLY PARKED"

They throw around the word "illegal" in order to make you feel like you committed a crime. It's part of the overall high pressure strategy intended to lessen your resistance to the coercion. If you paid the wrong slot or didn't see the sign, you didn't commit a crime. Remember, we're supposed to be "innocent until proven guilty."

Car Booting on private parking lots is a ridiculous scam. They have no right to punish you, nor do they have the right to fine you. Your right to due process and your right to an appeal are both completely circumvented by these illegal booting operations. The idea that they have the right to do so because you're on their property is also nonsense.

Those who hire car-booters to manage their lots are solely in it for the money.

(CAR BOOTING A MILLION DOLLAR A YEAR EXTORTION RACKET)

These are multi-million dollar a year operations in larger cities. The lot owners display a very medieval understanding of property rights. These "private" parking lots are in public places, and masquerade as businesses. However, they are used as a means to entrap people, to seize their vehicles unlawfully, all with the express purpose of extorting their CASH.

If it was about parking lot control, their objective would be to earn money by selling spaces by the hour. If that really was the case here, they would not keep their own spaces blocked by booting cars. They would write tickets instead. And why don't they? Because they don't have a legal right to demand these fees.

The trick is simple. They pretend to be a business and solicit their parking spaces for your use. Then, if you don't pay, or pay the wrong box, they impound your car. They convict you of theft even though you may have been getting change to pay the meter. You are presumed guilty with no recourse, no appeal.

Car booting on private lots is a total scam. It's a coercive and unethical practice. Don't fall for it.