There is no doubt that Governor George Ryan of Illinois
harbors a secret desire to have a legacy for his embattled and embittered
term as governor. Perhaps the quickest and most visible way is to have a
multi-million dollar airport built at Peotone. This is a vital decision both
nationally and internationally because when Chicago's O'Hare airport is
backed up, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco and Houston
all become involved and damaged by delays, cancellations and very short
tempers. Chicago's Midway does a good job as a reliever for domestic
flights, but it is also running at capacity and cannot accommodate some of
the larger jets due to shorter runways that cannot be lengthened because of
high density development
in the area.
Mayor Richard Daley favors no third airport, instead adding
two new runways at O'Hare. This plan involves re-alignment of existing
runways (at great expense), plus the cost of the new runways. If the truth
be know, Mayor Daley does not want to see the additional revenue that new
flights would bring go to any governing body except Chicago. Hence, he
opposes any other site, including Peotone. Democrat Daley and Republican
Ryan have agreed to disagree.
Other local airports have entered the fray, and made their pitches for the
designation by the airline industry as Chicago's third airport. Milwaukee,
Wisconsin and Rockford, Ilinois are at least 90 minutes away, if the
passenger did not encounter traffic, and was immediately boarded on the bus
at the terminal. 90 minutes! Would you want to take a 4-hour flight and
arrive in Rockford or Milwaukee to catch a 90-minute bus ride to downtown
Chicago? Both of these terminals would require enlarging and runways would
have to be certified, and additional gates would need to be added. All at
great expense of time and money.
Meanwhile, 10 minutes from the Loop, there is a third airport already up and
running, with scheduled service by Pan Am in place. That airport is
Gary-Chicago and they have already started construction of a new runway to
handle the heaviest jet. The only reason it is not being considered is that
it is in the State of Indiana, and Chicago and Illinois would not be
receiving the revenue from that location. So What?? Neither would we be
financing it. Newark Airport is in New Jersey and functions very well as a
third airport for New York. New Yorkers did not go to Albany for their third
airport!
Air traffic patterns at O'Hare and Midway would have to be re-aligned, but
that is no great problem. Some tracks of the South Shore Line would have to
be moved, but that is far less expensive than building new runways and
moving the ones in use today at O'Hare or building an entire new complex at
Peotone. Ryan is even talking about a new light rail system at Peotone!
It is time to scuttle the George Ryan Airport. The legacy he is trying to
establish comes out of our pocketbooks. The pork for his cronies is
reflected in the ownership revelations (or lack of revelations), of land
around Peotone. Gary is only 10 minutes from the Loop. There is a large
labor and service personnel pool immediately available of workers from
Chicago and Gary. What is wrong with our politicians? Does the expected
revenue mean that much? Do the pols intend to reduce our taxes with the
revenue? We are considering another Mid America’s Airport (Illinois side
of St. Louis Mo.) which is a constant feature on NBC' 'Fleecing of America'
and CBS' '60 Minutes'. Lets stop kidding ourselves and let’s not let the
politicians get away with the boondoggle legacy of George Ryan.