Booting cars still has support among council members who urged taking no action on new ordinance

Just because there wasn’t immediate support by a La Crosse city council committee for new rules on booting cars, that doesn’t mean it’s not popular.

A city council committee this week voted against a recommendation on a new ordinance that would allow booting and towing for unpaid parking tickets and other offenses.

City council president Martin Gaul suggested the non-action but, in general, he likes the boot.

“I think that we need to do something to take care of these issues with these major outstanding fines and the people that just keep abusing this,” Gaul said. “I think there’s nothing wrong with the ordinance as it’s written.”

But, after several calls and emails, Gaul insisted on having more questions answered about the new rules before the full council takes a vote next week.

Under the proposed ordinance, the city could boot and tow cars that are behind on parking tickets but also simply unregistered. The new rules would allow booting cars with five or more unpaid parking tickets in excess of 60 days old.