Boyer Writes Gov. About Ill-Will
Chicagao and
all of Illinois will suffer because of Richard Daley. That's the
message contained in a letter to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
(D-IL) from AOPA President Phil Boyer, warning that Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley's demolition of the runways at Merrill C. Meigs
Field has generated a great deal of ill will against the city among
the nation's general aviation pilots, as well as concern from
members of Congress.
"I have heard from more association members outraged by these
actions than during the total grounding of general aviation in the
days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks," Boyer wrote, warning
that AOPA members are more than willing to help pressure the city
to reopen the airport. "The association has asked its members to
boycott Chicago and they are responding. We have already received
numerous communications from our members indicating that they will
do exactly that."
Boyer also indicated that the consequences could extend beyond
the city limits, affecting the entire state of Illinois.
"A
number of key federal legislators are every bit concerned as we
are, indicating that they cannot understand why the city would seek
federal money for transportation infrastructure projects while
tearing out an aviation resource," said Boyer (right). "These are
the same federal legislators who allocate federal funds to cities
and states for transportation projects.
"During my testimony before the House aviation subcommittee last
week, I presented testimony relating our strong opposition to the
Meigs closure. With the exception of Representative [William]
Lipinski [D-IL], senior members of the committee shared our
concerns and pledged to work with us to introduce legislation to
undo what Mayor Daley has done."
In the letter, Boyer pointed out that the stated reason for the
governor's initial support for Daley's action was no longer
valid.
"We are aware ... that you were supportive of closure of the
airport in the name of security. However, Mayor Daley (below,
right) has admitted that the closure was not based on security
but a desire to convert Northerly Island into a park — at the
expense of the lakefront airport."
Boyer reminded Blagojevich that AOPA had worked
for more than a decade to keep Meigs Field open, including strong
support for last year's congressional measure, which Blagojevich
himself co-sponsored, that would have written into federal law the
deal to expand O'Hare International Airport, build a new airport in
Peotone, Ill., and keep Meigs open for another 25 years.
Although the federal legislation failed to win approval, Boyer
said, "we all believed that Mayor Daley's handshake agreement with
your predecessor would be honored, so the gouging of X's in the
runway at Meigs came as a total surprise to us all."