Council drops background-check requirement for ride-hailing companies

The state of Colorado accused Uber this week of placing passengers in "extreme jeopardy" - and slapped the ride-hailing giant with a nearly $9 million fine for allowing 57 people with past criminal or motor vehicle offenses to drive for the service.

Why, then, did the City Council agree Tuesday to let Uber, Lyft and Via escape fingerprinting and let the ride-hailing and taxicab run the names of their own drivers through national and global databases to make sure they don't have criminal records, show up on sex offender registries or appear on a list of suspected terrorists?

That's the question that hung over Tuesday's vote on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's' plan to reshape Chicago's dying taxicab industry in the image of its ride-hailing competitors.

But, the elephant in the room was never addressed on the City Council floor. Aldermen approved the changes - included in a catch-all management ordinance tied to the mayor's 2018 budget - without ever discussing the security cloud that hangs over Uber.

Emanuel, whose brother is an Uber investor, denied that he was compromising public safety by allowing ride-hailing drivers to escape fingerprinting and dropping it altogether for new cabdrivers.

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