Under the current mayor, the City of Chicago, instead of making the decision to truly address our fiscal challenges, has instead opted to plug budget shortfalls and generate revenue by increasing fines and fees on its residents. What is especially insidious about the city's approach is that these fines and fees are typically hidden until an unsuspecting resident is hit with a ticket (or 2, or 3) or, worse, their vehicle is booted.



Chicago has historically used regressive means to generate revenue, whether through red light and speed cameras or a plastic bag tax. This tactic has been categorically condemned by the United States Justice Department in its report on similar practices occurring in Ferguson, MO. Moreover, Chicago has long-standing, documented issues with racial discrimination and racial bias across departments and embedded in practices that are pervasive and reflected even in how it generates revenue.



These regressive practices have created a cottage industry around bankruptcy, with a devastating impact on residents financial standing and financial future. Far too many residents – particularly people of color, are filing for bankruptcy just to be able to get their vehicles out of the impound so that they can go to work. In the worst cases, they jeopardize their financial future and if they are unable to retrieve their vehicles, they are in danger of losing their jobs – their source of income.



What should be done about this?



The most immediate necessary step is a moratorium on increasing fees, fines and forfeitures specifically related to vehicular infractions with an eye toward moving away from regressive mechanisms completely. Not only is this necessary to force the city to confront other areas of the budget where funds can be shifted, it is necessary to address significant disparities in enforcement. Several studies have shown that these tickets and fines disproportionately affect Black and brown residents. For example CPD data from 2017 showed that more than half of all bike tickets were issued in majority black neighborhoods while only 18 percent were issued in white neighborhoods. Also troubling were reports that found that residents in predominantly black neighborhoods were receiving tickets for snow-related infractions at much higher rates. Any policy resulting in a disparate impact on a particular group must be examined and modified.



When it comes to policy, I typically like to propose immediate, tangible solutions as well as more broad, bolder, possibly more long term so that people have an understanding of how we get from A to B



More broadly, the city's revenue crisis stems from a much more pervasive problem: population decline.



Population loss is not just a race issue (the city lost 250,000 African Americans in a 15 year time span). Whether that population loss is driven by displacement, dim economic prospects, violence, lack of educational opportunities, etc. the negative effects are felt by all. A smaller population means less tax revenue (our primary source of revenue) to cover operational expenses. It also means a smaller population of people who will pay whatever tickets, fines and fees we do have in place. It's a vicious cycle.



We must put in place the conditions that will attract people back to the city – this means the kind of investment that creates economically vibrant communities with quality schools, jobs, and access to resources.



Transformative Economic Policies that Drive Growth



It also means we have to implement transformative economic policies that build individual and community wealth and create an economically vibrant city. Expanding our economic ecosystem by supporting economic models like worker-owned cooperatives that build individual and community wealth, will only increase our tax base by creating more businesses that hire locally (and pay taxes!). At better wages, these businesses create a population with more disposable income for which an unpaid traffic ticket does not become a driver to bankruptcy.



Generating significant revenue means shifting away from our over-reliance on private sector banks and instead establishing a public bank for the city that would save the city hundreds of millions of dollars in fines, fees and interest rate costs accrued by our dealings with traditional financial institutions. It would also allow the city to fund its own infrastructure projects, issue loans for small businesses and homes that could revitalize communities, and generate revenue that can be reinvested into building our economy.



The easy fix under this current, and previous administrations, has been to hide regressive fees and fines in the form of late penalties and user fees. Truly addressing the crux of our fiscal challenges requires the city to take a hard look at our priorities and reallocate existing funds to align with our priorities, and our values. Harming residents by burdening them with fines and fees only hurts our city as a whole and is not a value we should adopt. Moreover, implementing bold, proven economic policies that actually drive growth would create a city that is a national and international leader on creating a fiscally responsible, thriving city for all of its residents.