In December 2002, the Waukegan government created an ordinance which allows for the seizure and impoundment of persons' cars for lack of insurance or valid drivers' license.

Cars are towed at 500$ fee, in additon to an 85$ impoundment fee, in addition to 25$ for every day that the car is not retrieved. A federal judge ruled this unconstitutional in November of 2006.

J.R.'s towing, who won the bid to tow all cars pulled over for this ordinance, donated 6000$ to Mayor Hyde's campaign fund (10% of his total donations). He denies J.R.'s influence in his re-election.

Who doesn't have insurance or registration in Waukegan? The poor.
What cities don't have this ordinance? The upper-class.

This is an obvious attack against the working-class, the most prominent of them being Hispanic immigrants. The cost to retrieve a car averages to 800$ a person; almost a months' living wage for a single person.

This is a class war -- punishing us for not having insurance is the same as punishing us for being poor. By taking away our only transportation to work, how can we ever get out of poverty?

Despite mass-protests and judge rulings, J.R.'s towing and their puppet Mayor Hyde continue to tow cars at ridiculous fees. We must organize and make it clear that the working-class in Waukegan will not be pushed around.

500 Dollars Is Not Fine!