A proposed ordinance that would increase penalties on ”illegal”
limousine operators and solicitors at O`Hare International Airport won unanimous approval Tuesday from the City Council`s Aviation Committee.
The panel also recommended passage of an agreement that would clear the way for construction of a new United Airlines reservations center at the airport. Both measures now go to the full council for consideration.
Administration officials told the committee that renegade limo operators and terminal ”hustlers” seeking to drum up business have become a growing nuisance at the airport, contributing to a clogged terminal roadway and, in some cases, harassing passengers.
Under city regulations, drivers are not permitted to the terminal area unless they have waiting passengers who have called for a ride. But as many as 1,500 of the 4,000 livery operations at O`Hare a day are illegal, as limos go to the terminal even though they don`t have pre-arranged customers, officials said.
The proposed ordinance, which also applies to cab drivers, would impose increasingly stiff penalties on violators with succeeding offenses. It calls for fines of up to $500 and jail sentences of up to 21 days.
”There are some people in my community who need to be in jail and we want to have some room for them . . . We don`t have enough room at County Jail for drug dealers,” said Ald. Robert Shaw (9th), a member of the committee.
Capt. Edward Scullion, head of O`Hare`s police detail, acknowledged that hustlers might not be sentenced to jail, but he said that provisions of the new measure would at least ensure that they go before a judge.
As it is, most of those cited by police are released on ”I-bonds,”
which require only their signatures, and they subsequently fail to appear in court, Scullion said. Through August, police made 2,100 arrests at the airport but only about 5 percent of those cited showed up in court, he said.
But the only industry comment at Tuesday`s meeting was positive as representatives of two livery companies, a limo association and a cab drivers` union endorsed the proposed measure.
Under the tentative agreement with United, the city would lease 20 acres of a 200-acre development area to the airline for 40 years at a bargain rent of $12,500 annually. United proposes to build a $25 million reservations center that would employ nearly 2,100 people.
