Surprising move for Chicago.
Unlicensed drivers' cars to be impounded under new Chicago ordinance
To get cars back, motorists would have to pay $665
By John Byrne Tribune Reporter
November 19, 2009
Billing it as a way to improve public safety, the Chicago City Council approved a plan Wednesday aimed at forcing unlicensed motorists off the street by impounding their cars.
But drivers could get their cars back if they fill city coffers with $665 -- a $500 fine and $165 in towing costs.
Ald. Thomas Allen, 38th, acknowledged his ordinance, which takes effect Jan. 1, isn't perfect. But he said it's a strong deterrent for scofflaws who were repeat offenders among the 22,904 citations Chicago police issued last year for driving with a suspended license.
"You're not going to eradicate the 22,000-plus cases of people getting pulled over for this," Allen said. "But if they have to pay this $665 every time, it's going to give them pause."
The new rule gained momentum after Allen brought up the case of James E. Cox, who was cited more than a dozen times with driving without a valid license but kept driving, records show. Cox is now charged with causing the Oct. 21 wreck that killed Kim Brown, a 27-year-old pregnant mother of five, as she stood on a West Side sidewalk.
Allen pointed out Cox would have racked up thousands of dollars in fines to keep his car on the road before the accident that killed Brown. "He would have thought twice before driving again, facing those costs," Allen said.
In other action Wednesday:
-- Aldermen voted to allow a $16 million payment from the city to Bensenville as part of an agreement to get the village to drop its opposition to O'Hare International Airport expansion.
Mayor Richard Daley said the end to the land fight will result in an economic boon to Chicago and Bensenville as development accompanies the airport expansion.
"All the property in and around O'Hare field deals with future development," Daley said at a City Hall news conference. "It's very important to them, their tax base and jobs. Also, it's an amenity for us, because we want businesses to be much closer to O'Hare field."
-- The council adopted a resolution urging Congress to pass legislation that would allow some undocumented immigrant students to earn conditional residency.
The push locally was prompted by the case of Rigoberto Padilla, 21, a University of Illinois at Chicago student. He faces a Dec. 16 deportation to Mexico after he was pulled over for suspicion of driving under the influence, convicted of a misdemeanor traffic violation and reported to federal Immigration authorities.
Ald. George Cardenas, 12th, said he co-sponsored the resolution because the so-called DREAM Act could help fix America's broken Immigration system by protecting hard workers like Padilla.
-- Daley introduced an ordinance to use $35 million from the city's controversial parking meter lease to provide property tax relief to Chicago homeowners. Based on a pledge in his proposed budget, Daley said the program would cut property taxes for about 400,000 city homeowners by an average of around $150.
-- The council also approved federal prosecutor Joseph Ferguson as the city's new inspector general, an office responsible for investigating corruption in city government.
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