The Topeka City Council has approved an ordinance that will allow a boot restraint device to be placed on a vehicle's wheels if parking and traffic officers find the owner has failed to pay three or more city parking tickets. City council member Sylvia Ortiz was not a fan of the measure, saying it potentially puts officers and other personnel in harm's way.
But seven other councilmembers did not agree, and the boot ordinance was approved. The effort is similar to those in other cash-strapped...and parking-strapped...cities around the country. A report indicated that 400 people in Topeka had accumulated $400,000 worth of unpaid fines. 15 of those people were responsible for more than $175,000 of that amount.