Jackson's torch for 3rd airport is burning Daley

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sweet/cst-nws-sweet24.html

Jackson's torch for 3rd airport is burning Daley

January 24, 2005

BY LYNN SWEET WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) is not taking on Mayor Daley because he wants to run for mayor anytime in the near future.

Or because Jackson needs attention because of all the grandiose publicity showered on U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). He's lived his life in the limelight as the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

It's not that Jackson lacks ambition. He's got plenty. He would like to be speaker of the House someday. Or, I think he could see himself as the host of a television talk show that would pay him a lot of money and leave him free to write and travel on behalf of progressive causes.

(snip)

Since Jackson came to Congress in December 1995, he's had many causes, local and national, but only one myopic obsession: to build a south suburban airport.

The proposed Abraham Lincoln airport, near Peotone, is to be the economic engine to revitalize some of the Chicago area's poorest communities and provide thousands of jobs.

(snip)

After all, I can look at a map and see a third airport in Rockford, a fourth airport in Milwaukee, a fifth airport at Gary.

the first two are overloaded. The area where he wants to pu the third will benetit and everyone will be better off.
Claiming that there will then be a forth fifth etc... is like Santorum saying gay marriage leads to sex with dogs. It simply doesn't compute.

Gary, Milwaukee and Rockford all have underutilized airports.

As for O'Hare and Midway being overloaded--they aren't, not when we are looking at United staving off liquidation and American looking at a bankruptcy filing.

Airports are expensive, environmentally destructive, and don't become economic engines just because they are built. Money sent to wherever the hell Peotone is won't help anyone but contractors.

And that's the reason that the City is holding up the third airport. Daley wants the jobs to stay in Chicago, period. He will fight against a third airport and in favor of expanding O'Hare.

The thing that makes the most sense, is to build a cargo airport in the South Burbs.

The South Burbs are ideally situated for the purposes of transportation of cargo. The Illinois Central Railroad runs through Peotone. I-57 does too, and I-80 is just 10 miles north.

Gary is in a good location, but the people of Indiana will have to make the decision to expand Gary. They won't get any help from the City of Chicago, I promise you.

Rockford? It's farther away than Peotone. And Rockford is in the middle of nowhere.

The City of Chicago is behind the Gary expansion, having pushed for the compact to create a new airport authority and given it over $10 million to expand facilities.

You have the players wrong. It isn't Daley who will fight against the out of state airport. Daley MADE Gary/Chicago. It is the illinois state goverment and congressional delegations who think they are going to control the pork that a billion dollar project is going to bring. Gary didn't help them, so they are against it.

Also, I gotta wonder about your geography. Rockford isn't nowhere. Rockford is next to the second biggest city in Illinois, that being, well, Rockford. Rockford is also close to the northern and northwestern Chicago suburbs, Milwaukee, and Madison. And its closer to the western suburbs than Peotone. Saying Rockford is the middle of nowhere while favoring Peotone is a laugh and a half.

As for Gary:



Peotone is close to highways--sort of. Ten minutes from I-80 means another twenty miles of highway access routes. Moreover, a highway isn't a place. It is a way to get to a place. The hope is, of course, that thousands of acres of cheap farmland gets turned into a sprawl of warehouses and convention centers. But anyone that thinks that airport real estate s going to reach into the south suburbs of Chicago is dreaming.

Daley would only support tranferring cargo flights to Gary "if" he gets the funding to expand O'Hare. Daley would rather put his support behind an airport in Indiana than give up big $$$$ for O'Hare. He gave Gary a small percentage of the passenger facility charges from O'Hare and Midway so that he could say, "See, we're already investing in a third airport. Now give the money for the O'Hare expansion."

It's pure politics.

The picture that you attached is misleading. Anyone who has ever driven from NW Indiana to downtown using either the Skyway or the Bishop Ford knows what a mess it is. Even the South Shore line is antiquated.

I'd much rather drive downtown from Peotone than to come in from Indiana any day. Even using the IC from Peotone would be a breeze compared to coming in from Indiana.

Rockford? Those people are already served by O'Hare. Why the need for 2 airports to the northwest of Chicago?

I guess you can say that Daley only gave ten and more millions for Gary. And to the extent that it created a third airport, I guess I dont's see how that is a BAD thing, except for those who feel that a billion taxpayer dollars to create a greenfields pork barrell project is money better spent.

The Gary/Chicago airport did what Peotone was supposed to do, but without the pork. And that's why politicians don't like it.

Dreaming about driving from Peotone is fantasy. Fact is, when you land in Gary, some people are already home. Every person landing at Peotone has got an hour drive, before the highways jam at Joliet, and there isn't even an antiquated mass transit to get there. Even the skyway or surface streets from Gary beat that all to hell, and for the money that would be needed to just build a highway to a Peotone site, the current roads could be made into transit heaven.

The distance is why Peotone won't help the southern suburbs. Even if Peotone is a huge success, killing off Gary and Midway, development will simply leapfrog over existing suburbs and create a complete new exurban area which is in the middle of nowhere plus an airport, with the new roads the southern suburbs don't get, new rail transports the southern suburbs don't get, etc. etc. Hoping a few crumbs drop on the way down south is an empty dream.

And with air travel in a major restructinng, nobody knows who would even use Peotone. Despite the question of what airline would use it.the reason Peotone won't die is because it is an enormous waste of money. Small wastes of money get killed, but enormous wastes of money get all sorts of political and corporate clout behind them. From Peotone to SDI, the bigger the waste, the more polticians like it. A small, sensible step like using existing, close-airports has no huge, big project constituency.

ATA, Hooter's Airline, and something called Casino Express are the only airlines out of Gary. So it's probably true that if you're flying Hooter's.....you live in Indiana and are therefore already home. ;-)

Midway just got a huge facelift, but let's face it, there's no room to expand. I love Midway and fly Southwest whenever I can just to use Midway. I wouldn't want to see it disappear.

Same goes for O'Hare.

But what I want, as a someone who lives in the Southland, is development and progress for the south suburbs. A cargo facility with room for expansion is what we want out here. I live 20 miles south of the Loop and 15 minutes from Peotone. It's true that it would be inconvenient at this time to take a flight into Peotone to do business in the Loop. But not a lot more inconvenient than Gary, and a lot less than Rockford.

For years the City and the western and northern burbs have gotten more than their fair share. Now.....we want ours.

Fact is, you can't just demand what the Northwest suburbs got, because O'Hare's advantage is that it is an airport that gets used. A billion dollars AT BEST only beggars a share of O'Hare's traffic, and closes closer and more useful airports already built. At worst, the billion dollars creates an airport that is great if you like your airports empty.

The problem is that a billion dollars in cost is exactly what gets the project backed, not the benefits to the general economy. It is a totally contractor and politician driven project. Its a shame that the only way that the southern suburbs can get a few million dollars in its economy is to get a billion from the state and feds for a white elephant. But that's what Peotone is.

If Peotone could pay for itself with local taxes, usage fees and federal transportation funds--like Chicago and Gary--I would only see Peotone as a disaster on someone else's land and to someone else's pocket. But it can't.

By the way, you should calculate your drives again. There isn't a twenty miles south of the loop and 15 minutes from Peotone. My street finder shows it to be 48 miles from the center of Peotone to the Loop. That's about an hour and a half on the best of days.

We can assume, moreover, that nobody is going to build any link from Peotone to Chicago, since Peotone isn't being built to create any economic benefit for the existing urban area but to create an entirely new, greenfields infrastructure. It isn't meant to be convenient for anybody in place today.

I can make it to the Loop non-rush hour from where I live in 30 minutes.

I used to go to rehearsal once a week at Division and the Kennedy, I know exactly how long it takes. I take Metra in everyday and it only takes 37 minutes.

And from where I live to Peotone is less than 20 minutes, and I'm well east of I-57. I know, because my cousin lives in Peotone.

An hour and a half....you must be talking about how long it takes to get to the Loop from O'Hare during the week. That is, if one's not smart enough to take the Blue Line. In which case it only takes about 50 minutes.

But again, myself and others aren't saying that Peotone should be used for passenger traffic initially. Just cargo to relieve that burden from O'Hare.

After all, most people aren't traveling for business on Christmas day, and the Ryan is the worst. Nor does a trip on Metra count, since it is precisely that sort of transportation that won't be available from Peotone, as it is available from OHare and Midway.

As for O'Hare into the loop, on a day of blizzard snow, it can take an hour. But comparing apples to apples, its twenty minutes to the Loop, and tweny minutes to Evanston, and five minutes to Park Ridge when things are running smoothly. Peotone isn't twenty minutes from anything, which is its attraction. Even Peotone won't be near the airport, since the airport is going to be placed in the wilderness.

The land is bought, or being bought. That's fine, I suppose, since we can always sell it later. But really, who is investing in an increase in profitable air traffic right now?

Because they don't have extra land to expand in, the runways will need to be closer than normally allowed. That means under bad weather, there will be fewer runways available for takeoffs and landings than with the current layout. Airport congestion at O'Hare will be even worse.

I live just south of Peotone, about 5 miles. I don't want friggin' airplanes flying low over me. The pollution, the noise, the traffic...I think I can live without the Peotone Airport. It would be VERY convenient for us, but it's not worth the crap that comes with it. I vote no Peotone airport. I agree there should be a 3rd airport, but not in MY backyard (frontyard).

or maybe not.

Hardly a blip on the screen.

It only served as place where fat cats could land in Lear Jets for the most part.

I'm glad it's gone.

Or their may have been one, from Meigs to Springfield, to carry the lobbyists for Meigs.

Meigs was a one runway for prop planes. It was mostly good for confusing air traffic controllers.

After doing a little reading I decided Daley was right to tear it up, my initial reaction is that I hate to see a perfectly good thing go to waste. I thought maybe it could have been expanded and put to better use.

http://www.archpundit.com/archives/006387.html

http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2003/030403meigs.html

Even if it was just for cargo, which makes a lot of sense. The south burbs have long been neglected.