A private booting company that has lathered the City Council with campaign contributions may have to wait until after next year’s municipal election to take its operations citywide.
Retiring Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th) introduced the expansion and pushed it through committee at the behest of former Ald. Joe Moore, now chief lobbyist for Innovative Parking Solutions, the only private booting company operating in Chicago.
Innovative Parking and its president, Michael Denigris, have contributed nearly $50,000 over the last two years to 23 Council members or their ward organizations. Reboyras got a $1,000 contribution. License Committee Chair Emma Mitts (37th) and her 37th Ward Regular Democratic Organization got $2,500.
In the run-up to Wednesday’s Council meeting, Reboyras and Mitts had filed notice with the city clerk of their intention to call for a vote on the stalled ordinance authorizing Innovative Parking Solutions to expand operations from 34 wards to all 50.
But minutes before the meeting, Reboyras called off the vote to avoid risking defeat.
“We pulled it back — again. We may not have the votes yet. … I think we’re one or two votes shy of passage,” Reboyras said.
He joked, “Maybe Broadway Joe [Moore] can’t do the work.”
Turning serious, Reboyras blamed the 2023 municipal election for giving re-election seekers cold feet.
“Our colleagues are just afraid to make a decision on it. I’m not, but they’re running for re-election. They don’t want this to hurt ’em,” Reboyras said. “My colleagues are afraid to make that an issue in their wards. It’s tough enough that they’re running for re-election. They don’t want an issue on their hands — and I don’t blame them.”
Moore said his own head count shows he’s “about two votes” short of the 26 needed to pass.
“It’s amazing we’re coming as close as we are, given that it’s not the most popular industry in the world and it addresses issues of aldermanic prerogative,” Moore said.
“But we still need some more time. … We’re gonna keep working on it. … We are too close to the magic number to be dead. And I am a very, very conservative vote-counter. I learned that early on in my career as alderman.”
It was the second time in two months Reboyras and Mitts had stalled their own ordinance for a lack of votes.
Moore said facing re-election next year shouldn’t make his former colleagues timid “when the alternative is a much more onerous parking enforcement tool. … The issue is not booting or leaving a car alone. Property owners have a right to enforce their trespass laws. And as it stands citywide, the only alternative in many wards is tow trucks. That costs more and it’s more inconvenient for the car owner.”
Currently, booting on private lots is allowed only if the local alderperson opts in — and 16 alderpersons have refused.
Reboyras said the $1,000 contribution he got from Innovative Parking had nothing to do with his decision to push the citywide expansion.
It was about protecting the precious parking spaces local retailers need to survive.
“It happens everywhere. … People are parking and they’re going across the street. They leave their cars there. I’d rather see a boot on my car where I can pay them” to take it off, Reboyras said.
“With towing, you’ve still got to pay. But now, you’ve got to find out where the vehicle is at,” he added.
“The businesses like it — at least the ones in my ward. And don’t forget — these guys on the lots, they also look out for any vandalism, which is good. That’s an added feature that we never knew about.”
To remove a private boot, Innovative Parking charges motorists $170 per vehicle, regardless of size. Towing costs $216, plus a daily storage fee of $45 for passenger vehicles.
Far North Side Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) has nevertheless argued the ordinance championed by Moore, who used to represent her ward, is “just about a private company that wants to have a free-for-all on the city and expand their market.”
Far Northwest Side Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st) has predicted the citywide ordinance would trigger fights galore when motorists return to find their vehicles booted.
“Whether you’re in the right or in the wrong of that booting, that situation becomes extremely volatile — especially when an independent company is the one doing it to your vehicle,” Napolitano said on the day the ordinance was approved in committee.
“If we’re giving someone an opportunity to boot a lot citywide, we’re creating more of volatile atmosphere than we already have. We don’t have enough police. We don’t have enough cars on patrol. ... Now, our officers are gonna be dispatched to an argument in a parking lot over a boot.”
