City of Bowling Green passes ordinance allowing for control of pricing for towing companies
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Bowling Green City Commission voted on the controversial towing ordinance that would allow the city to control how much companies can charge for towing.
“Why would you allow someone… why would an entity want to enforce rules on private property that they’re not willing to follow for themselves?,” Slim Nash, Fountain Square Towing’s owner, says.
Nash spoke for the first time in public regarding what he calls an unfair ordinance at the meeting, where he played a voicemail filled with obscenities, looking to show the community who really gets towed.
“I don’t enjoy using foul language in open meetings like that, but I don’t think that the average person… based upon the way that the city has chosen to address this issue, has any idea what I and, more importantly to me, my drivers deal with on a daily basis. That is just a smidge. That is one voicemail of many. We can show you videos of people behaving in the worst kinds of ways because they didn’t follow the rules,” Nash says.
A downtown business owner who spoke at the last meeting also shared what she’s heard from community members in the last two weeks.
“The word that I would use to describe this overall, and talking to people since the last time I was here… It’s very similar stories and all very fear-motivated. So I think we need to ask ourselves what kind of town do you want? What kind of downtown, in my case, do I want? Do we want people who are terrified and scared to come downtown unless they park in the wrong spot and are towed within 6 or 7 minutes? Because those are the things that we’re dealing with now,” Heather Kessler says.
After hearing from Nash and his attorney, as well as Kessler, the commission voted on the second reading of this ordinance, which is binding and enforceable if passed. All five commissioners voted Yes on it.
With the ordinance now passed, the opposition says they’re not done just yet.
“The city is not going to listen to reason, so they’ll have to listen to the judge… and in all likelihood, we’ll probably file a motion for temporary injunction. We’re going to fight this until the fight is over, and we feel very confident that we’re going to win,” Alan Simpson, who represents Fountain Square Towing, says.
News 40 will keep you updated as we learn more.
