Why My Visit to SunTrust and a $3 Coffee Cost $75

EAST ATLANTA — Booting of cars in lots around the Village, the neighborhood's central business district, has always been a contentious issue between lot owners and the patrons of area retailers and restaurants.

The owner of the lot behind SunTrust Banks Inc.'s East Atlanta branch at 514 Flat Shoals Ave., received several complaints from the bank about its customers not being able to park in bank-designated spaces because they were routinely snapped up by non-bank customers.

So much so, that in 2012, he informed the East Atlanta Community Association that booting of non-customers would be enforced.

In this Patch Voices editorial, David Adams, an East Atlanta resident and SunTrust customer, recounts how a March 2 trip to that bank branch's ATM and Joe's East Atlanta Coffee Shop next door resulted in a $75 boot.

As he explained to East Atlanta Patch:

"There is a man named Herman who works for Empire Parking Services. He sits in his car in the SunTrust parking lot behind the bank. The lot is posted to be for bank customers only. I parked next to him today, cut through Joe's coffee house to get to the SunTrust ATM machine. As I went back through the coffee house, I picked up a cup of coffee and returned to my car about 10 minutes after I had left it. He had booted my car and wanted $75 to take the boot off. I showed him my ATM receipt to prove that I was doing business with the bank. He told me that since I had picked up a cup of coffee on my way back through the coffee house, he was justified to boot my car. Something needs to be done about this clearly predatory Empire Parking Service."

SEE ALSO:

• Kwanza Hall Pushes 'Booting' Ban
• Free Parking In The EAV Is Good For All
• UPDATED: Spat Over SunTrust Parking Spaces Could Lead To Booting Of Vehicles
• Unchained Misery In East Atlanta Village?
• UPDATED: EAV Lot Owner Gives The Boot To Lessee
• Villlage Patrons Get The Boot