Question: Whatever happened to the practice of attaching wheel-immobilizing “boots” on unauthorized parked cars at Leonard’s Bakery and at an adjacent building on Kapahulu Avenue?

Answer: Booting is no longer taking place, workers at both locations said.

The issue came to light in November when a woman complained that a towing contractor attached a Denver boot to her car as she was changing her baby’s diaper in her car at the Leonard’s Bakery parking lot.

Lorea Wong, who said she and her family intended to patronize Leonard’s, paid $160 to have the boot removed. Bakery owner Leonard Rego recently met with Wong, reimbursed her the $160 and gave her malasadas and merchandise.

“I appreciated his gesture and understanding,” Wong said.

Tour bus driver Jonathan Mahelona said his motor coach was booted after he parked at 909 Kapahulu Ave. at 7 a.m. one Saturday in October so 19 passengers could go to Leonard’s next door. He said the lot was nearly empty at that hour.

Mahelona, too, was charged $160 to have the boot removed.

Booting, or clamping the wheel of a vehicle so it can’t be driven, also was done at Manoa Marketplace last year before being discontinued.

State lawmakers are considering a bill this session that would cap booting fees at $25. The House Transportation Committee advanced House Bill 1100 on Feb. 6.

The state Office of Consumer Protection testified that the bill would have the unintended consequence of exempting booting from the criminal tampering law.

Leonard’s Bakery general manager Gayla Young said the business no longer uses Booda Towing & Recovery, thus ending the practice of booting on its property.

Booting has also ceased recently at the adjacent 909 Kapahulu Ave., employees of two businesses there said.

Young said that before a Nov. 17 Star-Advertiser article describing Wong’s experience, Leonard’s was unaware that booting was occurring in its parking lot. It was, however, aware of booting taking place at 909 Kapahulu Ave.

She said Booda Towing workers took it upon themselves to boot and/or tow cars if the drivers walked off the Leonard’s property, and that any such action was supposed to be initiated by a call from Leonard’s personnel.

Booda owner Tracy Ing did not return calls to the Star-Advertiser.

In November, Sean Starn, owner of Hawaii Boot Removal, said he positions his company’s crew at Leonard’s and 909 Kapahulu to boot cars when drivers step off the properties.

This update was written by Leila Fujimori. Suggest a topic for “Whatever Happened To…” by writing Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4747; or email cityeditors@staradvertiser.com.