Mon, Jan 17, 2005
Protestors Brave Cold, Wind, To "Shut This Airport Nightmare
Down"
What would make some 30 people brave the bitter cold of a
Chicago winter to stand outside for hours in protest? For members
of "Shut This Airport Nightmare Down," it's the thought of losing
their property to eminent domain as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley
continues his quest for the city's third major airport.
It's a sign of the sentiment among residents of Chicago's South
Side -- they don't want to sell and they don't want the city to
take away their property. And yet, they've started receiving
letters from the Illinois Department of Transportation's Land
Acquisition office saying, start thinking about selling, or get
ready to face seizure of your property.
"We're extremely disappointed in Gov. Blagojevich for allowing
the state to threaten landowners with eminent domain for a project
the FAA has not approved, the airlines refuse to come to, and has
no plan on who [will] own or run it or pay [for the] surrounding
infrastructure cost," STAND president George Ochsenffeld was quoted
in the Chicago Sun-Times as saying.
STAND members say the state DOT has
sent those letters to 57 residents near the Chicago suburb of
Peotone.
"It said we'll try three times to negotiate with you, and if we
can't come to an agreement, we'll have to go forward with eminent
domain," resident Jim Verduin told the Sun-Times. "It's either you
negotiate with us or we're going to get it anyway.... It's
stupid."
"We want to embarrass the governor," Ochsenffeld told the paper.
"This project is not about transportation, it's about development,
and it's cooked up by developers."
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