Chinatown gets a DMV office as Giannoulias jettisons use of driver services facilities name

Illinois famously doesn’t have a DMV, or Department of Motor Vehicles.

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Residents for decades have applied for and renewed licenses and car registrations at driver services facilities run by the Secretary of State’s office.

But at a ribbon-cutting Monday for Chinatown’s first drivers and motor vehicles facility, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias made it clear he wants to call it a DMV.

“I know folks online are having a lot of fun with it. We are having fun with it. We’re not saying Department of Motor Vehicles. This is Drivers and Motor Vehicles,” Giannoulias said during a ceremony that included costume Chinese lions.

Giannoulias shrugged off a question about whether all state driver services facilities will undergo the name change. But the new name was prominently displayed above the office at 2250 S. Canal St. in a large sign reading “Drivers and Motor Vehicles Facility.”

The office offers both driver and vehicle services from the same counter in a new “one-stop shop” model that Giannoulias wants to expand statewide.

David Struett/Sun-Times

“This is just the beginning,” Giannoulias said.

The one-counter model aims to eliminate confusion and speed up lines, Giannoulias said. The Chinatown office will also offer services in Mandarin, Cantonese and Spanish.

Asked about the name change to DMV, Giannoulias said he doesn’t “spend too much time thinking about the name. I’m not creative or smart enough.”

He spoke about using the name DMV in a September interview with Block Club Chicago and denied that he was rebranding driver services facilities.

But the name “driver services facilities” appears to be scrubbed from the Secretary of State’s website. Its webpages now include numerous references to DMVs. An online list of state locations is titled “DMV Facility Locations.”

The Chinatown office, open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, allows residents to apply for or renew driver’s licenses, Real IDs and vehicle registration; apply for disability placards; join the organ donor registry and register to vote.

David Struett/Sun-Times

State Rep. Theresa Mah said the office’s language services will be an asset to the surrounding communities, which include Chinatown, Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Pilsen and Back of the Yards. She noted the facility is within walking distance from a concentration of senior citizens in Chinatown.

Giannoulias said the office’s location was chosen due to its proximity to the center of Chinatown, but he said the office was smaller than he had wanted.

“It’s tough in Chinatown to find a bigger space,” he said.

Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) said Giannoulias had campaigned on the promise to add a DMV in Chinatown. She thanked him for fulfilling the promise in a year.

“It’s an incredible signal of the importance of our growing community,” Lee said.

The Secretary of State’s office said the new location services a gap on the South Side. The nearest locations are the Loop office at 160 N. La Salle St. and the Chicago South location at 9901 S. King Drive.