Allied leaving town

Allied Towing is leaving La Crosse, saying city government spoiled its profits.

Company owners have sent a letter asking to break its contract with the city and be removed from the rotation for tow work for the city.

City Attorney Pat Houlihan said the city will accept Allied's request.

Allied also has sent letters to clients with private parking lots, announcing it will no longer tow for them.

Allied's decision to stop doing business in La Crosse had nothing to do with the towing rotation and everything to do with a lack of profit, coowner Rachel Whetstone said. La Crosse business plunged 80 percent since Nov. 12 when a new city policy took effect, she said. It requires property owners to call police when they want a trespasser towed and to fill out a report within 48 hours.

There had been no specific policy for trespassing tows, and Allied had been cutting out the middle man, with tow truck drivers patrolling lots, making calls to police, then taking vehicles after a ticket was issued.

Much of its trespasser tows were from private lots near the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus and downtown.

Allied could provide the free service to its clients because of the number of cars they were towing. The company did $30,000 in tows in October alone, she said. At their prices, that accounts for about 200 vehicles.

Allied, a Winona, Minn.-based company, began towing in La Crosse in June, and within three months, complaints were hitting the desks of Houlihan and Mayor John Medinger.

The complaints included Allied's prices (double that of any other towing company in La Crosse), discourteous service and Allied's use of "the boot," which clamps onto a wheel and disables a car until it can be towed or its driver pays a fine.

La Crosse police eventually discovered that "booting" cars in Wisconsin is illegal. Allied stopped the practice and vowed to refund money to drivers who could prove they'd been booted.

To answer the complaints, city officials decided Allied was ignoring a state statute that said a "formal complaint" must be made before a trespasser could be towed, and then implemented the Nov. 12 policy.

In her letter to Allied's clients, Whetstone called the policy "excessive restrictions."

"We are unable to patrol your lot for trespassers if we are unable to call for tickets on your behalf," the letter stated. "Due to the actions of specific city officials ... it is not profitable for our company to continue doing business in La Crosse."

Copyright La Crosse Tribune Dec 05, 2003
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