Mon, Jul 14, 2003
Airlines Agree To Shell Out For Improvements
Chicago Mayor Richard
Daley, reviled in the general aviation community for bulldozing the
runway at Meigs Field last March, has a plan. He wants to spend
$2.9 billion on expanding and improving O'Hare Airport. Even as
some Chicago aldermen called for a full-blown investigation into
the Meigs destruction, Daley was standing before the city council
with his latest scheme on display.
The mayor called the agreement “an enormous step
forward” for the O’Hare expansion and modernization
project, which is expected to cost the airlines approximately $2.9
billion and beef up the airport’s capacity by more than
50-percent. “The airlines and the city recognize that the
O’Hare Modernization Program is necessary for the long-term
survival of the airlines and the economic vitality of the Chicago
area,” Daley said in a statement quoted by Crain's Chicago
Business.
“And it answers critics who have said the program was too
expensive and could not be funded.” Already, cities near the
expansion area are lining up to be a part of the project, hoping to
invest in the economic development expected to arise out of the
O'Hare plan.
What About Meigs?
In the same Wednesday meeting where Daley presented an agreement
with O'Hare's major airlines on the expansion project, Daley took
more heat for the destruction of Meigs Field.
That GA airport, on the shore of Lake Michigan near
the downtown area, was rendered useless March 31 when Daley sent in
bulldozers to gouge out huge portions from the runway under cover
of darkness.
Alderman Joe Moore demanded more hearings on the "adverse
impact" and on possible alternatives to Daley's plan of turning
Meigs into a park. But observers at Chicago City Hall say it's not
likely Daley will change his mind anytime soon.
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