UPDATED: EAV Lot Owner Gives The Boot To Lessee

The owner of the parking lot between Flat Shoals and Gresham avenues that after more than four dozen cars were booted with no warning is cancelling the lease with the woman who rented the property earlier this month.

"Yes, we are locking up the property tomorrow morning and have contacted the tenant and canceled the lease," Anthony Deljou told East Altanta Patch in an e-mail late Monday night.

By late Tuesday morning, the lot was chained off.

The cancelation comes less than two weeks after he leased his 55-space lot at at 535 Gresham Ave. to a woman for a 90-day period expiring Sept. 10.

Deljou who is sales director and a principal of Deljou Art Group Showroom and Gallery on Atlanta's Westside, has refused to identify the woman.

But the nixing of her lease follows mounting public outcry, threat of legal action and a torrent of activity on East Atlanta Village's listserv, Facebook and Twitter.

The lot just behind Earthshaking Music between Flat Shoals and Gresham avenues, had been used by patrons of the bars, restaurants and other businesses in the Village for years. (A second lot just behind the row of businesses fronting Glenwood Avenue including Grant Central Pizza and Mary's and EAV 529 on Flat Shoals Avenue is unaffected.)

Unlike other neighborhoods — including Little Five Points and Downtown — East Atlanta does not allow pay-to-park lots. (One shopping area at the northeast corner of Flat Shoals and Glewood avenues is grandfathered in so it has pay-to-park.)

Typically, the lots are leased to area business owners.

Deljou, who obtained the lot earlier this year after foreclosing on its previous owner, Jeffrey Notrica and his company, Inman Park Properties, said he shopped the property around to area businesses but none expressed interest.

"I personally visited every store, I asked every single one of them if they wanted to rent the lot," Deljou said in an earlier interview with East Atlanta Patch. "I've had open dialogue with all of them. No one wants to pay for it."

It's not clear whether the mystery woman to whom he said he leased the lot, has a business in the Village and when asked, Deljou said his business dealings with her was no one else's business.

The woman apparrently privatized the lot, though there was no signage saying it was off-limits to public parking.

The only sign that was erected said unauthorized vehicles were subject to being booted — with a fee of $75 to have it removed — but nowhere on the property was there any indication the lot was private.

In fact, though there are yellow metal ballasts with loops for a metal chain to block access to the lot, it remained open.

On Saturday night, at least 35 cars were booted in the lot and then the following day, another 20 vehicles were booted, Earthshaking Music owner Dave Strohauer told East Atlanta Patch earlier Monday.

"It's like putting corn out in a field, attracting ducks and then you start shooting them," he said of the booting, which he likened to a bait-and-switch scheme.

The booting process has come under even more scrutiny not just because of the ill-will it fostered but because of alleged violations of the city codes that regulate booting.

For example, city codes require the name of a lot operator to be posted on a sign, along with a phone number, but the sign in question only listed a telephone number.