Without a word of debate, the City Council agreed Wednesday to rein in a vehicle impoundment program that became Chicago’s catch-all solution to crimes of all kinds, but also trapped motorists in a cycle of debt.
Last fall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot convinced aldermen to cut Chicago scofflaws some slack by reducing fines, expanding payment plans and stopping drivers’ license suspensions for non-moving violations.
The mayor also ordered a moratorium on water shut-offs, calling water a “basic human right.” And during the stay-at-home shutdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, she called a halt to booting and ordered city crews to stop ticketing for all but emergency parking offenses.
Wednesday’s vote was yet another installment on Lightfoot’s ongoing plan to bring equity to an overly-punitive ticketing and towing policy that has unfairly targeted minority motorists and forced thousands of them into bankruptcy.
Under the plan:
• Automatic impoundment would end for motorists driving on suspended licenses if the suspension was triggered by overdue parking tickets.
The city and state passed laws ending the practice of license suspensions for parking tickets, but tens of thousands are indebted to the city, with many of the cases being associated with a bankruptcy.
• Fines that were doubled nine years ago would be returned to 2011 levels and storage fees would be capped at $1,000. In 2014, a $610 cap on impoundment storage fees was lifted, setting the stages for vehicle impoundment cases to become what the city calls a “leading driver of bankruptcy,” particularly among people of color.
• No more would the city charge storage fees when motorists can’t redeem their vehicles.
• The laundry list of offenses making motorists eligible for vehicle impoundment would be shortened to eliminate many “non-driving and non-public safety-related offenses.” That includes possession of fireworks, playing loud music, littering and driving on a license suspended as a result of city debt.
• Legal defenses would be established. That includes a so-called “innocent owner” defense that would allow motorists to redeem vehicles used without their knowledge or when they prove the car was unfairly impounded.
• Automatic impoundment would end for motorists driving on suspended licenses if the suspension was triggered by overdue parking tickets. Chicago ended license suspensions for overdue parking tickets last year, but thousands of cases still linger.
Over the years, vehicle impoundment became the city’s answer to fighting crimes ranging from curfew violations and loud radio playing to soliciting for prostitution and graffiti.
Impounded vehicles are then sold to the city’s private towing contractor for scrap, often for less than $200.
Shortly after taking office, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley turned towing over to EAR, a company whose owners have close ties to Jeremiah Joyce, one of Daley’s closest friends in politics.
The Sun-Times subsequently exposed how the city sells about 70,000 cars each year to EAR for no more than the going scrap-metal price, regardless of the vehicle’s age or condition.
Owners get nothing for the car, even though they’re still on the hook to the city for fines and towing fees. The towing company resold the cars through private auctions held at city auto pounds and kept the proceeds.
Lightfoot introduced the latest round of reforms in response to a more recent investigation by WBEZ-FM (91.5) that uncovered even more problems in the way police seize vehicles during arrests, saddling motorists with thousands of dollars in stores fees that drove them in debt.
That investigation concluded that storage fees were “inflated” because of mistakes made by people and computers and by Emanuel’s decision to lift the cap. A review by the city’s Department of Finance is currently underway.
The impoundment reforms were approved at an action-packed City Council meeting where aldermen also agreed to spend nearly $5 million to compensate motorists denied due process after their vehicles were seized in connection with suspected drug-related offenses.
Plaintiffs Brandon Fuller and Savannah Washington filed the lawsuit after their vehicle was seized for potential forfeiture after a passenger in the car was arrested for possession of a felony amount of marijuana.
One month later, a judge found there was no probable cause for the search and the case against the passenger was dismissed.
Although the charges that triggered the impoundment were dropped, it was too late for Fuller and Washington.
They claim the Chicago Police Department’s Asset Forfeiture Unit contacted the lienholder of the vehicle “almost immediately after” their car was impounded and “encouraged the lienholder” to re-possess the vehicle.
They claim to have made several attempts to recover their vehicle, to no avail. It was released to the lienholder.
