Essig speaks about booting ordinance
Les Essig, Associated Students of Utah State University President, spoke to the Logan City Council last night about the city’s booting ordinance.
Mayor Douglas E. Thompson said he and Essig had spoken earlier that day more in depth about the issue and that he agrees that it needs to be looked into.
“The ordinance may not be perfect. It could be tweaked,” Thompson said.
On behalf of the students, Essig said that he believes that the booting ordinance needs to be revamped or completely repealed.
Essig cited safety, the need for proper signage, and due process as reasons for the ordinance to be changed.
“I don’t know all the legal specifics, but I believe that due process is not being completed because personal property is being seized by a business,” Essig said.
Essig also said that he believes that students are the ones targeted by the booting company.
The booter, Essig said, also has too much power because they have police power to seize property and judicial power to give a fine.
Receipts also need to be given when students pay the booter and there needs to be an appeal process, Essig said.
Council Chairman Tami W. Pyfer asked Essig if he had any ideas concerning how the ordinance could be changed.
Essig gave the example of a Logan landlord that assigns parking stalls to tenants and then the tenants are responsible for calling the booter if someone is in their spot.
“That way you won’t call if it’s your friend, roommate, boy or girlfriend or someone just parked there for five minutes to pick up their homecoming date,” Essig said.
Council member Stephen C. Thompson suggested going back to towing vehicles like was formally done before the booting ordinance in 2000. Thompson said that towing vehicles are more costly but also the fairest way to protect property owners.
However, one of the reasons the booting ordinance was enacted in 2000 is because students were unhappy with the towing of vehicles, Pyfer said.
Council member Loraine Swenson suggested giving a certain number of written citations before booting as is done in downtown Logan and on USU campus.
The ordinance does say that signs must be posted informing vehicle owners as to where they can or cannot park, Pyfer said. However, Essig said he has seen only a few signs and that none of them are very visible.
“There are definite signage problems,” Essig said.
An ad hoc committee will be formed to look at the ordinance, Mayor Thompson said.
The committee will consist of council members, USU students, landlords and the booting company.
Council member Joseph C. Needham volunteered himself to take part in the committee because he has lived in campus apartments and feels familiar with the situation.
Essig also volunteered for the committee, as did the landlord of Oakridge apartments.
Quinn Millet, a USU student who attended the meeting and who filed the claim against the city, also said he would be willing to be on the booting committee and called booting “an explosive situation that occurs late at night in an uncontrolled environment.”
Millet was not the only student in attendance to show support for the booting change. Pyfer asked the audience to stand if they were there because of the booting ordinance.
Half of the room, or about 20 people, stood up.
Mayor Thompson said that a compromise needs to be found that will still control parking, because it’s also dangerous for people to lose their parking spots late at night and have nowhere to park.
Essig thanked the council for its willingness to look at the problem and find a solution.
“Let’s sit down and hammer it out,” Stephen C. Thompson said.
-hilaryi@cc.usu.edu