FOM Vows To Continue Fight For New Airport
The following is the statement from the Experimental
Aircraft Association regarding Monday's settlement agreement
between the Federal Aviation Administration and the city of
Chicago, over the 2003 destruction of Meigs Field -- Ed.
Three and a half years after destroying the Coolest Little
Airport on the Planet, Chicago's City Hall decided to stop fighting
the FAA and pay a $33,000 fine for failure to give proper public
notice of the closure of Merrill C. Meigs Field. The city also
agreed to repay $1 million of the $1.5 million the FAA said it
misspent from federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds to
finance the March 30, 2003, airport demolition and subsequent
development of a park on the city's Northerly Island.
"This is a significant milestone that vindicates what we've said
from the start," said Steve Whitney, president of the Friends of
Meigs Field. "We're grateful that the FAA held the City's feet to
the fire. Unfortunately, Mayor Daley is sticking the taxpayers with
the bill."
While this would seem to put an end to the Meigs saga, Whitney
says it is not the airport's final chapter. FOM's Planes and Parks
proposal could add as much as $100 million or more to the Chicago
Park District for parks across the city while resurrecting the
airport on Northerly Island.
"Our proposal for a
combination park/airport/air museum is one possibility," said
Whitney. "Others may be feasible as well. The key is to capitalize
on Meigs as an airport to benefit both aviation and Chicago
parks.
"We're not saying that it's likely to occur, but this isn't a
monarchy, and the mayor is up for re-election in February." Meigs
backers do admit that so long as Mayor Daley is in office, their
Planes and Parks proposal will not be seriously considered.
Whitney went on to thank EAA for its past support of Meigs,
including regular monthly Young Eagles flight rallies with the
Tuskegee Airmen Dodo Chapter, and the visibility given the issue at
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
The FAA originally held that the city improperly used $1.5
million of AIP funds to demolish Meigs, and threatened to impose up
to triple the amount ($4.5 million) in penalties. But the FAA
allowed the city to claim that some of the money was legitimately
spent on environmental cleanup at the site and dropped the
penalty.
"The real tragedy with Meigs occurred years ago when it was
destroyed, and it can never be replaced," said EAA president Tom
Poberezny. "A settlement has been reached that unfortunately puts
the burden on Chicago taxpayers, but for aviation and Chicago, it's
too little, too late."
The city also amassed
more than $500,000 in legal fees during more than two years of
legal wrangling. But while the city has agreed to pay, Mayor
Richard Daley will not admit any wrongdoing; he clings to the
widely dismissed notion that the airport was closed because of an
"emergency" due to unnamed "terrorist threats."
Friends of Meigs Field has documented over $490 million in
annual spending by Meigs users prior to its demolition. "The
economic losses are staggering," Whitney said. "Not only from the
loss of business by Meigs users, but also by the additional delays
caused by displaced traffic at O'Hare and Midway."
But it remains a tragic story that the once ideal landing
facility for business travelers and Young Eagles has been reduced
to a part-time concert venue and bike/nature trail.