Chicago Set To Finish Meigs Field Demolition
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again
--Jim Morrison, The Doors, "The End"
The Chicago Parks District Wednesday night awarded a $1.5
million contract for the final destruction of Meigs Field.
According to an article in Thursday's Chicago Tribune, the
head of the Parks District says the work could begin within 30
days.
As expected, the contract to tear up
the runway and remove electrical infrastructure went to Pacific
Construction. The company has received several Park District
contracts in recent years. Another contract is expected within a
month for the preliminary landscaping.
Meanwhile, AOPA continues to pursue its formal FAA complaint
against the city for improperly closing the airport. The FAA told
AOPA Friday that the complaint is currently under review in the
agency's legal department.
No, Not Quite
A Chicago City alderman has called for public hearings to
question Mayor Daley's secret midnight destruction of the airfield.
Alderman Joe Moore has suggested the city reconsider the AOPA plan
proposed in May that would have the city buy the airport from the
park district using federal funds. But Moore, an independent
Democrat, is not likely to get the hearings. The city council
Aviation Committee is controlled by a staunch Daley ally who,
according to Chicago political observers, is no more likely to hold
the hearings than the mayor is likely to change his mind about
Meigs.
"Since 1994, AOPA has committed a significant amount
of money and association resources on trying to save Meigs," said
AOPA President Phil Boyer. "And in my heart, I'm still not ready to
give up. But I also have to say in all honesty that I don't think
I'll ever land again at Meigs Field."
Through the years, AOPA
has never been hesitant to commit the association's resources in
battle for Meigs when there was the slightest chance for success,
Boyer said. Many others have partnered in the fight as well, but
none have individually contributed as much as AOPA.
Even now, AOPA continues to press its formal complaints with FAA
and the Illinois Department of Transportation over the closure of
Meigs. The FAA reauthorization bills approved by the US House and
Senate both contain the "Meigs Legacy Amendment" — which AOPA
helped write and lobbied for — that would prevent closure of
an airport without providing sufficient notice and establish a
$10,000-a-day fine.
A Brief History... From Phil Boyer's Point Of View
AOPA's battle to save Meigs began in 1994 when
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced plans to convert Meigs
Field to a park. He could do that because of a unique FAA grant
agreement that gave him an "escape clause." That FAA grant had
special language that allowed Daley to close Meigs in 1996 when the
lease between the city of Chicago and the Chicago Park District for
the airport land expired.
As soon as Daley's plans became clear, AOPA began a
multi-faceted campaign to try to save the airport. The association
wrote a series of letters to Daley and Chicago politicians,
emphasizing the importance of the airport not only to the city but
the national transportation system.
AOPA also started its public-relations efforts as well. In June
1996, it took out its first full-page newspaper designed to rally
public opinion against Daley's plan. The ad, directed to residents
near Midway Airport, was headlined "Daley Wants to Close Meigs
Field and Send the Traffic to You" and urged residents to contact
Daley and other key Illinois politicians.
The association also went to the federal
watchdog agency — the General Accounting Office — and
presented investigators with the evidence demonstrating the
national need to keep the airport open.
Continuing its PR
campaign, AOPA took the issue of Meigs Field directly to the
nation's top political figures gathered in Chicago for the
Democratic National Convention in August 1996. AOPA flew a
100-foot-long aerial banner over Chicago, protesting the impending
closure of Meigs. During convention week, AOPA also distributed
hundreds of campaign buttons. Banner and buttons bore the message
"DECISION 96? KEEP MEIGS AIRPORT OPEN!"
The association was also working with the State of Illinois. On
September 5, 1996, the Illinois Department of Transportation
threatened to take over the airport if the city closed it.
Nevertheless, the Chicago City Council (a rubber stamp for Mayor
Daley) voted to close Meigs Field September 12.
AOPA and six other plaintiffs immediately filed suit in federal
court and asked for a temporary restraining order to stop the city,
while the State of Illinois sued Chicago in state court.
Meanwhile, AOPA worked with 11 key members of Congress who wrote
then-FAA Administrator David Hinson, asking him to reverse FAA's
decision allowing Chicago to close Meigs.
A Close Call
On September 27, a federal
judge turned down AOPA's request for a TRO. On the 30th, the lease
expired, and the city closed the airport.
But AOPA wasn't about to give up. The association lobbied the
Illinois legislature for a law allowing the state to take over and
operate Meigs Field. The "Meigs Act" passed in December.
Facing the threat from both the legislature and the
pending lawsuit in state court, Daley compromised. Daley and
Illinois Governor Jim Edgar entered into an agreement that would
keep Meigs Field open for five years until February 2003. Chicago
agreed to operate and promote the use of Meigs; the state agreed to
withdraw its lawsuit and repeal the Meigs Act. After five years,
Chicago could do as it pleased with the airport, and the state
wouldn't interfere. But Meigs supporters believed that in that five
years they could demonstrate the importance of the airport. And
thanks to the efforts of AOPA and others, Meigs would stay open an
additional five years.
On February 11, 1997, Meigs reopened, and AOPA President Phil
Boyer was among the first to land there. But as the end of the
five-year agreement approached, Daley again made it clear that he
had every intention of closing the airport to build a park. Once
again, AOPA pursued multiple avenues of attack to save Meigs
Field.
The association did considerable research on a unique "buy-out"
proposal that not only would save the airport, but would also put
money into Chicago parks. AOPA President Boyer tried to quietly
present the proposal to Daley, but the mayor would never schedule a
meeting (More on this below).
AOPA turned once again to the Illinois legislature, even airing
television commercials in May 2001 to convince lawmakers to step in
and keep the airport open. And the association continued its
efforts with Congress, telling congressional committees about the
important role reliever airports like Meigs play. AOPA's efforts
led to an amendment encouraging the preservation of Meigs as part
of the plan to enhance Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
The association was part of the O'Hare Delay Task Force and used
that platform to show how Meigs Field was part of a regional
solution to congestion at O'Hare.
Then, the breakthrough: In December 2001, Illinois Governor
George Ryan and Daley reached a deal that would keep Meigs Field
open for 25 years as part of a much larger agreement involving the
expansion of O'Hare and the construction of a new air carrier
airport. Members of the Illinois congressional delegation
introduced legislation to lock the deal into federal law, and AOPA
began lobbying other members of Congress to get the law passed.
AOPA even worked with Daley and testified multiple times before
Congress (March 6, 2002, and March 21, 2002).
But while the bill passed the House in 2002, Illinois Senator
Peter Fitzgerald blocked it with a filibuster in the Senate.
Fitzgerald supported Meigs, but he didn't like the provisions
concerning O'Hare International Airport. As Congress adjourned at
the close of 2002, AOPA President Boyer pledged to Mayor Daley that
AOPA would continue to work to see that the legislation passed in
2003.
Readers With Sensitive Stomachs May Want To Skip This Part
Then the blow nobody saw coming: In the late evening of March
30, 2003, Daley and his bulldozers struck, gouging huge Xs in the
runway and cutting taxiway entrances. The media was kept at bay; a
Chicago fire truck blinded the Internet camera on the nearby Adler
Planetarium with a spotlight.
Daley said the deal to save Meigs was void because the Senate
hadn't passed the O'Hare legislation. And he claimed he was saving
the citizens of Chicago from the "terrorist threat" from the little
lakeside airport. He later recanted that claim and admitted he just
wanted a park. And the citizens of Chicago never believed the
terrorist threat anyhow.
Again, AOPA sprung into action, filing formal complaints with
both FAA and the Illinois Department of Transportation and urging
members to boycott the city. To bring public pressure on Daley,
AOPA placed four full-page ads in Chicago's major daily newspapers.
And within the week following the midnight raid, AOPA filed suit in
federal court to block further destruction of the airport.
Once again, Boyer testified before Congress on Meigs, and that
testimony, coupled with AOPA lobbying, led to the legislation that
would punish others who improperly try to close an airport.
The association reminded the new Illinois governor of the
consequences of closing Meigs and once again lobbied the Illinois
legislature. An amendment that would have saved Meigs was
introduced but ultimately was bypassed by Daley partisans.
But what was really
needed was a truly bold step, something that would catch the
attention of the media and Chicago citizens. And AOPA had just the
plan. In a major press conference May 22, attended by every major
news outlet in the city, AOPA President Boyer announced AOPA's $41
million buyout plan for Meigs Field. It was a "win-win" solution
for all — the city would get nearly $40 million in federal
funds that could be used on city parks, and there would be a
20-year guarantee on keeping the airport open. Chicago media played
the story big.
But city spokespeople dismissed the idea with half-truths and
outright misstatements, and Daley — again — claimed the
land belonged to the "people" and the "people" wanted a park.
Meanwhile, action in the courts to save Meigs was not going
well. A local group, Friends of Meigs, had filed suit in state
court but lost at both the district and appellate levels. And after
a federal judge made it very clear to AOPA's attorneys that he was
going to rule against the association, AOPA withdrew its federal
suit in mid-June.
"Some have criticized AOPA for that," said Boyer,
"but I approved the action after weighing all the pros and cons. It
was definitely time to end the financial bleeding. To continue that
suit would have wasted AOPA members' dollars in a futile action.
Not only would we have had to pay our additional court costs and
attorney fees, but we would also likely have been held responsible
to pay all of Chicago's court costs.
Requiem For An Airport
"As a pilot or a manager, you have to recognize when the
elements are against you and you need to abandon the approach or
risk wrecking the aircraft," said Boyer.
And what do the people of Chicago think about Daley's
destruction of Meigs? They didn't like it. Some two thirds of
Chicago voters disapproved of Mayor Daley's destruction of Meigs
Field Airport, according to a scientific poll published in the
Chicago Tribune June 16. Even a majority of Democrats
(Daley's party) didn't like it. And more than 70 percent didn't
believe the mayor's claim that the lakeside airport presented a
terrorist threat to downtown Chicago.
But Daley doesn't care. Having just been reelected to
a fourth term with 78% of the vote, and with a reputation for using
city resources to punish those who cross him, Daley figures he can
do what he wants — and he does. "I wasn't elected to be a
lover boy," he once told the press when pressed about his Meigs
attack.
"When it was all said and done, how the mayor closed the airport
may have been illegal, but the courts so far have affirmed that he
had the legal right to do it," said Boyer. "AOPA and other Meigs
supporters have tried everything from public, legislative, and
congressional pressure to lawsuits to get Daley to see reason. But
even the disapproval of his own voters hasn't dissuaded him. "When
you review what AOPA has done over the past decade to save Meigs,
I'm proud to say that we left no stone unturned. With the help and
support of our members, we've fought one hell of a fight."