UPDATE:Yesterday all but one of the planes took off from the taxi way. When asked if he would pay a political price for his actions, King Daley said "No, People want you to make decisions--they don't want you to be a Lover boy".
Also, yesterday top city business leaders issued a statement expressing their dissapointment over King Daley's actions.
My letter to Senator Fitzgerald:
During the overnight period of March 30 - March 31, Mayor Daily bulldozed the runway at Meigs Fld. This disturbs me greatly. I am of the understanding that part of the agreement between Daily and Ryan ( that is being debated in the Senate) was that Meigs was to remain open to general avation.
I am of the opinion that because Daily has violated that agreement, the O'Hare Expansion Agreement is now Null and Void. NO Federal funds should be released to the city of Chicago for O'Hare Expansion without Meigs being restored at the Mayor's expence first.
Not to mention that the Mayor did this excavation without first filing an Environmental Impact Statement.
Please do what you can to overturn this travisty.
Thank you,
Today I discussed this with the City of Bensonville. I pointed out that Daily's actions violated H.R. 592 Section 5 and S. 83 section (i), both in letter and spirit. Therefor the entire O'Hare Expansion Agreement should be concidered null and void.
Also this afternoon I sent the following to Tom Ridge, of the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Overnight, on March 31, 2003 Mayor Daily of Chicago severely damaged the runway of Meigs Fld. rendering it unusable. His claim that Meigs Fld. Is a security threat is a joke. As was proven last year in Florida, a Cessna or Piper Cub crashing into a high rise does very limited damage. Nothing like his claims that it would be similar to the damage a 767 would cause. I don't think it is nessessary to point out that there has never been a terrorist incident linked in any way to Meigs Fld. This point is further reinforced by Mayor Daily doing this stunt during the overnight hours under the cover of darkness because he knew he was compromising the safety of the city.
This creates a Homeland Security threat to the city of Chicago, and the surrounding 6 county metropolitan area. Meigs Fld. is a vital airport for Chicago due to it's proximity to the downtown area. It is frequently used for life flight Operations, and airlift of Organs for transplantation due to how close it is to the area's major hospitals. Also due to it's location on the lake front, it is vital to the security of Chicago as a launch and recovery point for aircraft monitoring shipping traffic on Lake Michigan, as well as Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter operations.
Therefor I request that The Dept. of Homeland Security take over possession of Northerly Island and Meigs Fld. through Eminent Domain proceedings. I request that this be done as an emergency action due to the security threat that the Mayor's action has created for the millions of residents in proximity to Lake Michigan. Airport operations can be safely maintained with FAA and Coast Guard oversight to insure safe operation of Official aircraft as well as General Aviation and Corporate Aviation aircraft.
Use the above for ideas. We might not win, but at least we can make his life miserable.