Fri, Jan 17, 2003
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.'"
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