Skokie, Illinois Residents Are Upset Over Proposed “Bird-Killing Tower”

Collisions with human-made structures is a leading cause of bird deaths in the United States, and a study last year found that Chicago is the deadliest city in the United States for migrating birds due to two main things: light pollution and geography.

With over 250 different species migrating through the Chicago area alone, we're talking about somewhere in the ballpark of 5 million birds.

Skokie residents apparently don't want bodies piling up around a proposed tower/car vending machine.

Carvana Wants To Build A 14-Story Glass Tower To Display Cars--Right Next To A Forest Preserve

For those who are unfamiliar with Carvana, and their giant car vending machines (or car slot machine, depending on where you are), it's pretty simple.

The Carvana vending machine is a large seven-story (or more) glass tower that can hold used cars. Intended to be a unique buying experience, Carvana buyers can pick up their vehicle from the vending machine after purchase. FindTheBestCarPrice.com explains it this way:

• You purchase your car from Carvana and select the option to pick it up at the nearest vending machine.
• When you go to pick up the car, you will get a token. Insert the token into the vending machine coin slot.
• The car lever will retrieve your car from the building.
• Sign and drive off with your car. You'll get seven days to determine if you want to keep it or return it.

Skokie's Monday Night Board Meeting Was Packed With Opponents To The Tower

As Fox32 Chicago reports, Carvana wants to put one of its signature glass car-towers directly next to Harms Woods, a major thoroughfare for migratory birds. Bird advocates call a lit-up glass box in that location a recipe for a bird-killing structure.

"This tower is built in the middle of a green space that millions of birds use every year in the spring and fall," said Annette Prince, Director of Chicago Bird Collision Monitors. But Carvana has agreed to turn off the tower's lights between the hours of 1am and sunrise, and to wrap the bottom 54-feet of the tower in a film which will make the glass visible to birds.

Protests aside, the Skokie Village Board did vote to allow Carvana to begin construction on the tower, which Carvana says should start in the very near future.