A Chicago-area pastor and youth minister criticized the city of Chicago last month for its so-called regressive ticketing policy that targets gig, minority, and low-income workers and threatens their livelihoods.

Some Chicago business owners and gig-economy workers had their licenses suspended due to a city code that allows Chicago to revoke business licenses over unpaid tickets, Southland Marquee reported last month.  

"This is a regressive city policy that targets Black and brown communities, keeping them in a cycle of generational debt," Rev. Tyrone McGowan, Jr. said in the article. "It primarily affects low-income Black households."

McGowan called for changing this policy to relieve the financial pressure already looming on minority and low-income communities in Chicago. There is evidence to support his claim, McGowan said. 

"Eight out of the 10 zip codes with the most ticket debt are Black zip codes," he said. "So, many people who are already struggling financially sink even further into debt as a result of this policy. Many go into bankruptcy, which is not an ideal solution, over something as simple as an unpaid ticket."

McGowan is pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on South Claire Boulevard in Robbins, Illinois, and associate pastor of teens and college students at Trinity United Church of Christ on West 95th Street in Chicago.

Chicago-area workers, like many nationwide, have turned to part-time and gig-economy jobs to get through the current difficult economic times, according to Southland Marquee. Many of those jobs heighten the risk of a worker getting ticketed for running a red light or parking somewhere for too long. That leaves workers with outstanding tickets subject to losing their business licenses.

The scenario is not new in Chicago, where “historically, the city of Chicago has built its economy and attempted to balance its budget off of criminalizing Black and brown bodies," McGowan said. "This ticket policy is just another way the city is oppressing communities of color. The fact that Chicago is the only major U.S. city with this policy is truly unacceptable."

That leads to equally historic failure, McGowan said.

"We are failing so many families and communities with this regressive policy," he said. "It is preventing everyday, honest, hard-working Chicagoans from making a decent living."

At issue is Cook County's city code that allows Chicago to revoke a business license if the owner does not or cannot pay outstanding tickets. A notice is sent to the license holder and a copy is sent to the Cook County Department of Revenue. This notice is considered legally sufficient to deny the issuance or renewal of a license; it might lead to the suspension of a license. 

The license can be suspended, denied, or revoked after a license administration hearing, for which the license holder must receive at least seven days' notice. The director of revenue can grant one continuance after a so-called show of good cause. If the business license is denied, suspended, or revoked, the business must immediately close. Ride-share or delivery workers will be unable to work without a valid driver's license. The decision can be appealed, but filing an appeal will not stop the license suspension or the business' closure.

Cook County's city code is not new. A 2019 NPR report found that Chicago suspended more than 15,000 ride-share drivers' business licenses because of traffic ticket debt. NPR also found that Chicago's ticketing policies adversely affect Black, brown, and low-income communities far more than other communities. NPR reported that Chicago is the only major U.S. city to have a policy that revokes business licenses over unpaid tickets.

Flexible Work News reported last month about the experience of John Sotiropoulos, an Uber driver in Chicago whose license was revoked due to Cook County's city code. Sotiropoulos blamed Chicago for "going after everybody for money" after he was removed from the Uber platform and unable to return because of outstanding tickets. With no statute of limitations on these types of tickets, debt can accumulate to the point of a license suspension with no way of paying the debt to get the license back.

McGowan told Southland Marquee he worries that Chicago families, already struggling to make ends, face the threat of being thrown out of work because of the Cook County code.

"More families, more communities will be negatively impacted by the ticketing policy," McGowan said. "They will be locked out of the economy for very minor offenses. This is not right."

McGowan said the Cook County city code will lead some people to "the underground economy of crime that continues to put Chicago in the national headlines for the wrong reasons."

Editor’s Note: This story is part of an ongoing series covering the impact of government policy on those earning money from the gig economy.