Aldermen introduce ordinance for party buses after recent shooting
City Hall Reporter
“With the increasing popularity and proliferation of party buses in Chicago, we need to take reasonable steps to ensure that underage drinking does not occur on these vehicles,” said Ald. Edward Burke.
The party would be over — or, at the very least, reined in — for “party buses” cruising Chicago, under a crackdown proposed Wednesday in response to recent shootings.
Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th) and Police Committee Chairman Ariel Reboyras (30th) are joining forces on an ordinance that would require party buses to be licensed to sell alcohol and designate an individual who is at least 25 years old to check the identification of all passengers on the bus.
The over-25 designee would be required to make a “reasonable effort” to ensure that passengers under the legal drinking age of 21 “do not violate the law by consuming alcohol” aboard the bus.
The ordinance introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting was co-sponsored by three former Chicago Police officers: Aldermen Willie Cochran (20th); Chris Taliaferro (29th) and Anthony Napolitano (41st).
The shooting that left three people injured and triggered the crackdown occurred early Sunday in the 1100 block of South Jefferson, according to Chicago Police.
After a tour that included the South Loop and University Village neighborhoods, the driver of a party bus pulled into a gas station to buy cigarettes.
While the driver was inside paying for his smokes, a fight apparently broke out on the bus and spilled out onto the street. At some point, shots were fired at the vehicle. The aldermen quoted the police report as saying the driver “did not keep a pas- senger roster or make sure that passengers on the party bus were legally old enough” to drink.
Burke noted that the Sunday morning party bus shooting was “not an isolated incident.”
In mid-June, a woman who was a passenger on a party bus fell to her death from a bridge railing at 400 E. Wacker Drive shortly after leaving a party bus, police records show. Three months earlier, a 19-year-old man was shot while participating in a party bus event at 2233 South Martin Luther King Drive.
“With the increasing popularity and proliferation of party buses in Chicago, we need to take reasonable steps to ensure that underage drinking does not occur on these vehicles,” Burke was quoted as saying.
“By doing so, we hope to ensure that our young people do not avail themselves of any easy opportunity to evade the law.”
Chris Vecchio, owner of Chitown Party Bus, said he’s “not a big fan” of Burke, adding, “He’s one of those aldermen who like to get in the limelight take advantage of situations.”
But Vecchio said if there are party bus companies that do supply alcohol, “They should get a license. They should get insurance.” His company is not one of them.
“I know there have been some crazy things. In any business, you have renegades who, if you hire a bus, they’ll give you two kegs of beer. But we don’t supply alcohol or any other beverages. It’s strictly B.Y.O.B. with us. The only thing we supply is cups, napkins and ice,” Vecchio said.
“We check I.D.s if they look under age. We’ve had a couple of proms where they’ve tried to sneak alcohol. And we just tell them if there’s any alcohol found on board, we’ll take them to the nearest police station and have their parents pick `em up.”
The ordinance introduced Wednesday would establish several conditions for operating a motor vehicle “for the transportation of passengers for hire within the city and on which alcoholic beverages will be served by a charter party or consumed by passengers on a charter-sightseeing vehicle.”