Rescue Efforts Continue
GA scored another small victory for
Meigs Field Friday afternoon when a Cook County judge rejected the
City of Chicago's attempt to have one of the Meigs-oriented
lawsuits dismissed immediately. As was expected, the judge deferred
a hearing on the city's motion to dismiss until May 16, the date
originally set for the court to hear the Friends of Meigs lawsuit.
For the moment, the other "big" suit, AOPA's, has yet to be
scheduled.
In the meantime, a temporary restraining order obtained by the
Friends of Meigs will prevent the city from further damaging the
facilities at the field. One of the longstanding rumors about what
the mayor would like to do with the Meigs land is build a casino.
Daley on Thursday denied a casino is under consideration. He was
quoted in the Chicago Tribune, saying, "We're not going to
do that. No way. The lakefront is all public property. ...It's out
of the question."
Interestingly, though, Illinois
Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) told the Chicago
Sun-Times on Friday that he would not be opposed to
granting a casino license for the city of Chicago if an eleventh
state license were to be made available. Currently, the State of
Illinois has approved 10 casino licenses, with stipulations that
none of the 10 may be in Chicago. At no point in the
Sun-Times article was Northerly Island, home of Meigs
Field, mentioned.
On Sunday, April 13, Friends of Meigs is
holding a fundraising dinner in Chicago. Proceeds will help pay for
their legal challenge. Friends of Meigs officials will explain to
dinner guests the latest efforts to preserve the airport.
AOPA tells ANN that many of
their members have asked what they can do to help, particularly
financially. AOPA's greatest strength is the powerful voice of its
nearly 400,000 members. Renewing membership and convincing
non-member pilots to join adds to that strength and helps provide
the funds needed to mount the legal challenges and other actions in
AOPA's 12-point plan to save Meigs.
AOPA has joined ANN's "Boycott Chicago"
proposal by asking all pilots to boycott Chicago, and
to urge their trade, professional, and business associations to not
hold meetings and conventions in the city. If traveling by airline,
members should avoid flights landing in Chicago. At some point in
the future, AOPA may ask pilots and other aviaion professionals to
use their individual voices to contact members of Congress or the
Illinois State Legislature.