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.

FMI: www.ohare.com