Bloomington won’t appeal court order striking unconstitutional vehicle-for-hire law

Last week, Judge Rebecca Foley of the McLean County Circuit Court issued an order striking down a Bloomington ordinance that prevented new competitors – including the Liberty Justice Center’s client, Julie Crowe – from offering vehicle-for-hire services in the city. Today, the Bloomington Pantagraph reports that the city will not appeal the judge’s decision and will not stand in Julie Crowe’s...

Last week, Judge Rebecca Foley of the McLean County Circuit Court issued an order striking down a Bloomington ordinance that prevented new competitors – including the Liberty Justice Center’s client, Julie Crowe – from offering vehicle-for-hire services in the city.

Today, the Bloomington Pantagraph reports that the city will not appeal the judge’s decision and will not stand in Julie Crowe’s way as she finally gets to start her business more than two years after she applied for permission:

“The city will look to change its rules for licensing party buses and other vehicles for hire rather than appeal a judge’s ruling last week that its current rules are unconstitutional.The city also will grant Julie Crowe the right to operate her late-night shuttle business if she provides proof of liability insurance and her 15-passenger van passes a city vehicle inspection, City Attorney Todd Greenburg said.

Crowe sued the city in February 2012 after it denied her application for a ‘certificate of convenience’ that would allow her to operate a vehicle for hire. The city argued the market already was saturated and Crowe’s finances were too precarious, but a McLean County judge last week said the city denied her due process and the city’s ordinance lacked objective standards.

Mayor Tari Renner said aldermen in an informal polling said they did not wish to appeal the decision.”

Looking at reader comments on the Pantagraph story – or on any news story that has appeared about the city government’s efforts to quash Julie’s business – one can see that members of the public strongly favor a free market in vehicles for hire. Most people see no need for city officials to determine how many services will operate, who will get to operate them, or what those services will look like. People understand that consumers, not bureaucrats or politicians, should make those decisions as they do with every other type of business.

That’s not just popular opinion, it’s also sound economics. As economist Adrian Moore of the Reason Foundation explained in his expert report filed in Julie Crowe’s case, there is nothing special about the vehicle-for-hire market that calls for unusual restrictions. Limiting the number of vehicles only results in fewer choices, lower quality, and less safety.

Bloomington City Council members should keep that in mind when the Council revises the city’s vehicle-for-hire ordinance, as it plans to at the Council’s Sept. 24 or Oct. 14 meeting. To respect the court’s order, citizens’ right to earn a living, and consumers’ right to choose, any new rules they pass simply should come down to this: if you can provide a safe vehicle, you can operate a vehicle-for-hire service in Bloomington.