Why My Visit to SunTrust and a $3 Coffee Cost $75
The parking lot behind the Flat Shoals Avenue SunTrust Bank is for customers. Bank customer David Adams parked in the lot Saturday to conduct a financial transaction at the SunTrust ATM and got a cup of coffee at Joe's next door. His car was booted.
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From East Atlanta Patch
David Adams, an East Atlanta resident and SunTrust customer, doesn't understand why he was booted Saturday morning when he parked in SunTrust's East Atlanta branch parking lot.
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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."
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In This article
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SunTrust Bank
514 Flat Shoals Ave SE, Atlanta, GA -
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Joe's East Atlanta Coffee Shop
510 Flat Shoals Ave SE, Atlanta, GA -
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Chris Fogg
1:26 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
I'm the owner of the building. SunTrust doesn't own the building or the lot. Although we have a very difficult problem with people parking in the lot illegally this does seem to be a particular situation where I'd say the parking attendant went a step too far. I've already emailed the parking enforcement company and if you'd leave me your contact information I'd be happy to reimburse you myself. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Chris Murphy
9:36 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Thanks for replying here, Mr. Fogg.
My daughter & I were going to Holy Taco last Fri. night, and the street spaces were all full- I noticed your lot, but then read the posted signs, and left. ( Tried Tomatillos too, but all the spaces at and around there were full; ended up at Zesto's, which ain't a bad thing.) Seems like some enterprising individual could make a parking concession there, after business hours? I wouldn't have paid $5, but at $2 I definitely would, at $3 I'd be thinking about it. BTW, I am a Suntrust customer, and yes, have had problems parking there in the past. I've got no problem with an owner doing what they want with their property, nor with forcing other property owners or their customers to deal with their own parking problems.