Heinkel, a former Marine who runs an international repossession business and towing company, and Borelli, are dressed in matching blue "Scoot Scoop" polos
Last year, Heinkel was on a bike ride with his daughter along the Pacific Beach boardwalk when a tire popped. They stopped at Borelli's electric bicycle store, located inside the Promenade shopping plaza, among T-shirt shops, phone stores, and Mexican restaurants, to fix the flat.
While they were inside, Heinkel says scooter chargers staged a few newly charged scooters directly in the entrance of bike shop, then flashed middle-finger salutes in their general direction.
"Watch where you point that finger, kid," is what Heinkel remembers saying.
The chargers told Heinkel they were flipping off the store, a response to Borelli's complaints about them parking scooters near his store, blocking his sign. It gave Heinkel an idea. By the next week he had Borelli as a partner and a tow-authorization agreement from the plaza's owner, who already hated scooters and had asked tenants to simply throw them in the dumpster.
Borelli describes ScootScoop as a start up in its own right, with he and Heinkel the only full-time employees. Like many start-ups, ScootScoop is not yet profitable, and got it's start in Pacific beach were the scooters were annoying local business owners, and where Borelli owns a bike and skate rental shop
ScootScoop's owners say neighboring businesses in San Diego "reached out to us and said we can’t take these scooters anymore," according to Borelli.
Most of the scooters the firm has impounded in San Diego are from Bird and Lime, but those companies are refusing to pay to retrieve their vehicles and are fighting ScootScoop by suing them in California state court, Borelli said, accusing ScootScoop of unlawfully impounding the scooters and then demanding a ransom to get them returned.
In just over a year of operations, they have impounded more than 12,500 electric scooters, Borelli said.
The battle between the men and the scooter companies underscores the chaotic legal landscape for the vehicles
“Their attempts to deputize themselves as an extension of the city is not only unlawful, but it is nothing more than a property theft scheme to generate income,” Lime said.
ScootScoop claims the right to impound scooters under California law when they are improperly parked on private property, and it invoices the scooter companies at least $50 per vehicle to return them, Borelli said. ScootScoop plans to auction off some scooters if it doesn’t get paid.
ScootScoop charges the companies $30 to release each e-scooter. Its freelance workers will also move or stand up a scooter that's blocking walkways or roads. The cost to the scooter firms is $3 to $5. ScootScoop contractors take photos to show their homework.
ScootScoop is also developing an app where San Diego business owners can drop a pin on a map to alert the "scoopers" to an interloper that needs to be impounded within 24 hours. The pair also hopes to go global by using a model whereby satellite operators pay licensing fees.
San Diego was the land of the beach cruiser," Borelli said, describing the classic bicycle with balloon tires and motorcycle-style handlebars. "It was the ideal thing to get around here at a leisurely, safe pace. The e-scooter has been put it in the rear-view mirror."
A suit filed in federal court on behalf of four disabled San Diegans names the city as well as Bird Rides, Lime and other e-scooter companies, alleging they're violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by allowing the vehicles to pile up and inhibit access to sidewalks.
The suit seeks class-action status, undisclosed cash damages and an end to e-scooters on walkways.
Last fall, for instance, Bird paid the Scoot Scoop guys about $50,000 to get 1,801 confiscated scooters back
The public has never liked a towing company as much as they seem to like these guys. Old ladies, the ones terrified of scooters zooming past them on sidewalks, give the guys coffee gift cards. Police officers cheer them on, hooting "Scoot Scoop!" from their cruisers as Borelli and Heinkel conduct business.
Jim Bostian, the co-owner of the Crystal Pier Hotel and Cottages, says San Diego's ride-share scooter infestestation has become the biggest public nuisance he's had to deal with since he started working on the pier a half century ago.
Scoot Scoop's attorney Matt Souther claims that "tow-away" signs on private property are legally sufficient because Scoot Scoop isn't dealing with parking spaces — it's dealing with fire lanes, entrances and exits. You don't need to give notice to tow a scooter from those locations, he said.
Since scooters don't have vehicle identification numbers, the state department of motor vehicles won't allow Heinkel and Borelli to sell them to satisfy unpaid impound fees. Plus, they've got to keep them as evidence in the lawsuits.
On July 1, San Diego instituted laws for electric scooters: There is now a geofence-enabled 5 mile-per-hour zone on the boardwalk next to the ocean, and city employees are now responding to complaints logged via a city app and even impounding scooters left on sidewalks rather than in the street, and elsewhere on city property. The city charges a $60 impound fee, and stores them at the city dump, according to Borelli.
The Scoot Scoop guys welcome it.
"It's made our position a lot stronger," Borelli said, "it's one hundred percent validating everything we're doing."
https://www.scootscoop.com/
https://101kgb.iheart.com/content/san-diego-men-impounded-scooters/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-scooters/san-diego-duo-takes-on-electric-scooter-industry-idUSKCN1UR47F?il=0
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/san-diego-startup-impounds-wayward-e-scooters-n973841
https://patch.com/california/san-diego/will-san-diego-scoot-scoop-guys-slay-electric-scooter-goliaths
