April 1, 2003
By MIKE RAMSEY
of Copley News Service
CHICAGO - Mayor Richard Daley defended his sudden and indefinite closing of Meigs Field on Monday, saying the lakefront airport is a threat to public safety.
The controversial move - heavy-equipment operators gouged a series of X’s into the landing strip shortly after midnight Sunday, making it unusable - angered private pilots who enjoy using the scenic airfield but won praise from environmentalists who support longtime plans to convert Meigs into a park.
The closure came more than a week after the federal government granted Daley a temporary "no-fly" zone over the central part of his city. The mayor said he now was removing the last significant threat that airplanes could veer into skyscrapers - a reference to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York City.
"We have done this to protect the millions of people who live, work (in) and visit our downtown Chicago in these very uncertain times," Daley told reporters during a hastily convened news conference at City Hall.
Among the last travelers to use Meigs were Peoria Mayor Dave Ransburg and his wife, Zan, who flew home Sunday from Chicago with Bill Widener, chief pilot for Ransburg’s company, L.R. Nelson Corp. The water-sprinkler company frequently used the airport, which is minutes away from The Loop, for business trips.
"I’m deeply disappointed in Mayor Daley," Mayor Ransburg said. "I think the whole way he did it was out of character for him. He’s (previously) been very direct and above-board. This was sort of a midnight attack, and that’s a shame."
It could have been worse if L.R. Nelson’s Cessna had stayed overnight. Sixteen planes were marooned at Meigs and will either be allowed to fly out on an existing taxiway or removed for the owners at city expense, Daley said.
Located near Soldier Field and Chicago’s museum campus, Meigs Field was the site of a combined 32,000 take-offs and landings last year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency acknowledged city officials have the legal right to close Meigs but expressed concern it would put "added pressure" on Chicago’s two major airports, O’Hare International and Midway.
Daley has long sought to build a park on Meigs, which sits atop a man-made peninsula owned by the park district. The Chicago Democrat in late 2001 agreed to keep Meigs open for at least a few more years as a way to get then-Gov. George Ryan to support a costly expansion and modernization of O’Hare.
Federal legislation to cement the deal effectively died in the U.S. Senate.
The loudest outcry against the Daley administration Monday came from the Friends of Meigs Field, which said the city used "storm-troop tactics" under cover of night. The airport preservation group wasn’t immediately sure what options it had in responding to the runway excavation, president Rachel Goodstein said.
On the other side of the issue, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, also a Chicago Democrat, agrees with Daley’s safety concerns and supports the shutdown, spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson said. Meanwhile, the local group Friends of the Parks welcomed the prospect of additional lakefront property opening up to the general public, president Erma Tranter said.
L.R. Nelson likely will now use the less-convenient Midway Airport to get employees to downtown Chicago, Ransburg said. So, too, will the Illinois Department of Transportation, which had used Meigs for its weekday air shuttles linking Springfield and Chicago, agency spokesman Mike Monseur said.
IDOT coordinates three flights back and forth daily for state employees, he said.