Allied's towing practices halted

Pat Houlihan has told Allied Towing it can't haul away any, more trespassing vehicles unless it has a complaint from the property owner.

Houlihan, along with Mayor John Medinger and Assistant Police Chief Tom Jacobs, met Friday with representatives from Allied Towing and their attorney, Tom Kieffer of La Crosse, and told them the company's current practices violate a state statute.

The statute Houlihan refers to reads, "No vehicle involved in a trespass parking on a private parking lot or facility shall be removed without the permission of the vehicle owner ... or upon formal complaint and a citation for illegal parking issued by a traffic or police officer."

Houlihan interprets "formal complaint" as the owner of the property contacting the police before a car can be ticketed and subsequently towed. But he said he would check with other Wisconsin cities - he mentioned Milwaukee, Madison, Eau Claire and Green Bay, among others - to see how they interpret the statute.

"For the time being," Houlihan said, "the police will not issue citations just on the basis of Allied Towing calling and asking them to do so."

Since June, when the Winona, Minn.-based company expanded its towing business to La Crosse, Allied has been hired by both downtown businesses and apartment

building owners to patrol their lots. In a statement last week, the company said it patrolled "more than 50" lots in La Crosse.

Allied currently provides signs and parking permits to its clients, then patrols lots with its tow trucks. Until Friday, the tow truck driver would see an illegally parked car and call the police, who would put a citation on the vehicle, then Allied would tow it. One of Allied's selling points to the property owner was that he or she didn't have to be involved.

Houlihan became aware of Allied's methods when he received a letter from University of WisconsinLa Crosse student Jed Doolittle in early October, complaining he had been towed while visiting a friend at an apartment owned by Benson Management Inc., Allied's largest La Crosse client. Doolittle said he had only been at the property for 25 minutes and had to pay $158.25 to get his car back, roughly twice the going rate in La Crosse.

Houlihan sent a letter of his own to Allied, threatening to take the company off the city's towing rotation. The two sides agreed to a meeting. Since then, Houlihan' Medinger and the police department have received similar complaint calls and letters on an almost daily basis, many from college students who live in Benson's apartments.

A spokeswoman for Benson said a company representative was at Friday's meeting with the city but would not comment.

Allied President Bill Whetstone released a statement saying, "We've met with the city and are working to resolve the problem so we won't comment at this time."

At least one of Allied's clients, Chuck Callies, the owner of a downtown parking lot, has come forward in support of Allied, saying the company provides a muchneeded service to frustrated property owners who can't keep trespassers out. Callies said he'd tried everything, even putting a rope across the entrance of his lot, but drivers lifted it up and drove under it.

The city increased the cost of a trespassing ticket to $20 two years ago to deter illegal parking as well as answer the cries of property owners. City officials didn't realize the $20 ticket would be the small part of the bill.

"We didn't think it was going to be $20, plus your car is towed away," Houlihan said.

"They just can't go take the car without going through the process. There needs to be more consideration to the drivers.'

Milwaukee Assistant City Attorney Melanie Swank said property owners have a similar problem in her city, especially downtown and in the UW-Milwaukee area.

She said her office translates the statute the same as Houlihan and does not tow

without a complaint from the property owner.

When presented with La Crosse's current scenario, she said, "I bet there are a lot of distraught citizens."

Distraught or not, trespassing drivers can still be towed from Allied's lot if the owner contacts police. Allied representatives would not comment on whether they plan to have their drivers contact the owners, who then would call police.

"It is a problem for business owners," Swank said. "It's a very tough issue, and there's no perfect solution.

"We haven't found a good remedy."

Copyright La Crosse Tribune Nov 01, 2003
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