Blowie Walking to Work

Or taking an Uber:

• The city of Chicago has issued seizure orders for two SUVs that shuttle Mayor Brandon Johnson around town because no one has paid a growing pile of speeding and red light camera tickets issued to the vehicles.

  Four SUVs dedicated to Johnson have collected 21 citations and one warning since he became mayor seven months ago. As of Wednesday night, the unpaid fines and penalties total $2,130.

  Johnson’s motorcade has picked up tickets at a dizzying pace. In fact, his SUVs have been tagged speeding and running red lights more often in seven months than Rahm Emanuel, Lori Lightfoot, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle received within four-year terms.

  Johnson’s SUVS owed the city $855 for eleven moving violations when we first reported on his motorcade’s driving habits on October 18. The debt ballooned to $1,725 by November 30. Now, the debt is $2,130…and growing.

If we recall, the mayor's SUVs have "soft plates," not the MP plates that most city vehicles carry. We remember back when the red light/speed cameras were installed, the City sent a letter to the company running the system to "exempt" all the M plates on city vehicles. All well and good, except when the city switched to MP plates, the Department was suddenly getting tens of thousands in fines until someone updated the automated software to stop citing city vehicles again.

Evidently, no one updated the software. Let's face it, no one is coming to take Blowie's cars.