DuPage Likes Expansion Plan, Now 

This past week, the DuPage County Board, previously one of the most-vociferous opponents of expansion at O'Hare International Airport (ORD), voted 15-2 to endorse the airport's Chicago-backed $6.6 billion expansion plan, cheering airport allies and Chicago's Mayor Daley, and confusing and alienating numerous suburban (former) allies.

How serious was the opposition? The Chicago Tribune reported that DuPage had spent "nearly $2 million in legal fees fighting the airport's growth."

DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom (a Republican) told the rest of the Board, "If we are to maintain the strength of our region, we must cooperate with our other partners in the region, and we must do more than talk about a regional approach, we must embrace one." Daley (a Democrat) applauded in the press. The approval came the day after Gov. Ryan (a Republican, and a major proponent of the far-south-suburban Peotone airport project) left office, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich (a Democrat, who favored Daley's plan) took over. The Trib also noted, "The O'Hare proposal's most powerful opponent in the General Assembly, Sen. James 'Pate' Philip, ceded his post as Senate president after Democrats won a majority of the upper house."

Political reality set in...

"The World's Greatest Newspaper" continued, "'With a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature, this is a project that is going to occur,'" said DuPage board member Brien Sheahan (R-Elmhurst). 'We're either going to have it imposed on us, or we can pull up a chair, roll up our sleeves and be a part of the shaping of the final plan.'"

FMI: www.suburban-ohare.org/detail.asp?OBJECT_ID=493