Setting a limit on towing fees may be the last thing SIUC students and Carbondale citizens would expect the City Council to consider at its next meeting, but the actions of a group may indeed make this situation a reality. Unfortunately, it falls short of addressing the real problem of excessive towing in Carbondale.

On Aug. 29, Undergraduate Student Government President Dave Vingren, SIUC Student Trustee Pat Kelly and Graduate and Professional Student Council President Tim Hoerman along with owners and representatives of Carbondale’s four towing companies reached a compromise that will set maximum fees for towing services. The group agreed to a maximum of $55 for a tow, $10 per day for vehicle storage and $20 for a tow in progress. The compromise also eliminated all other towing fees, such as charges for dolly or winch usage. Before, towing fees could be set at any rate determined by towing companies, much to the chagrin of area drivers.

The City Council must pass the agreement Sept. 9 in order for the changes to go into effect by Sept. 19. The council’s July request for a cap that would set maximum towing fees at $40 was rejected by towing companies who believed the cap was too low.

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The compromise marks the first attempt to regulate towing in this city, and is a step toward evaluating Carbondale’s lack of legal parking and the predatory image of its towing companies. It shows the desire for involved parties to address a problem that leaders before them left neglected. But, negotiating a towing cap does little for car owners except lessening the effect on their pocketbooks when their vehicles are towed. These people probably will not be able to tell much of a difference.

Larry Georgeff, owner of Larry’s Towing, 820 N. Washington St., does not believe the new towing rates will change the Carbondale public’s perception of towing companies. He maintains that those who park illegally will still feel as if towing companies are specifically picking on them.

On the other hand, many drivers who park illegally only do so because of a lack of legal parking places near downtown shops, near campus or near apartment complexes of friends and family.

Carbondale City Councilman Larry Briggs, who espoused doing something about the towing problem in Carbondale when running for his position, believes the towing fees could be lowered further if somebody wanted to push the issue. By the same token, a detailed study of parking in Carbondale, similar to the one recently undertaken by the SIUC Parking Division to evaluate on-campus parking, also would be beneficial for the community.

There is a discernible point where towing company owners would indeed lose money if towing fees were lowered further, but towing fees are not the entire problem. The problem is the city’s love affair with excessive towing.

There are other ways of policing illegal parking in Carbondale besides automatically carting off our cars upon spotting them illegally parked. Has anyone thought of simply ticketing illegally parked cars, reserving towing for extreme circumstances? Ticketing these cars is a plausible and a less inconvenient alternative. Cars blocking fire hydrants may need towing because firefighters need that space to battle blazes at any given time. But is towing the car of a college student with little money acceptable because he or she happened to run into a store for five minutes? What if the car was not even blocking traffic?

The infant steps taken by student leaders and towing company owners in addressing towing in Carbondale can actually lead to solving the real problem. However, University student leaders should continue to push the issue because the towing problem is far from being solved. The imagined specter of tow-truck drivers who lurk about awaiting victims to tow may not be banished by the towing compromise. But if issues are further investigated, then perhaps one day it will.

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