Meigs Field in Chicago closed
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America being America, sue the company because 'my toast burnt me' I would suggest that the legal eagles were involved asap, so that the dipstick mare, sorry, mayor, and the local tax payers will be aware of the possible expense involved if the aircraft are grounded at Meigs .
From the picture he looks like the sort of person you would trust about as far as you could p!$$ on. Glad I don't live in the 'land of the free'
As Trolley... said, I wonder who gets the contract for the new park? No-one in his/her right mind could possibly see the field as a threat to anything, (except a park) and there are enough larger airfields around that could be used as a potential take off point for an attack.
Lets dig big 'X's into the runways at Fairford, that's a danger to the people of Gloucestershire.....
From the picture he looks like the sort of person you would trust about as far as you could p!$$ on. Glad I don't live in the 'land of the free'
As Trolley... said, I wonder who gets the contract for the new park? No-one in his/her right mind could possibly see the field as a threat to anything, (except a park) and there are enough larger airfields around that could be used as a potential take off point for an attack.
Lets dig big 'X's into the runways at Fairford, that's a danger to the people of Gloucestershire.....
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Takes a lot to get me this hacked off! Have emailed the scumbag mayor and sent other messages to the governor and friends of meigs campaign. Democracy - huh!! Have flown into Meigs several times over the years it was excellent. The middle of the night!! Scumbag. He even looks a shifty scumbag type - as has alredayt been mentioned i would be amazed if he isn't linked in some "invisible" way to the developers!
Daley you are a scumbag!
Daley you are a scumbag!
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Friends of Meig's field give this email: [email protected]
(haven't used it yet but am about to)
Cheers,
Woodey
(haven't used it yet but am about to)
Cheers,
Woodey
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What needs to happen is that someone arranges for bulldozers to move in at midnight at the following address:
Office of the Mayor
121 N. LaSalle, Room 507
Chicago, IL 60602
Office of the Mayor
121 N. LaSalle, Room 507
Chicago, IL 60602
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Haven't looked at the news yet today, so don't know if there are any more developments. Locally in Chicago, there is fairly good coverage of this, and for the most part the news channels appear to be giving everyone a fair shake of the stick. It's not all toeing the Mayor's line.
I'm going to overfly Meigs this afternoon and hopefully get some pictures, which I'll post tomorrow.
Cheers,
Peter
I'm going to overfly Meigs this afternoon and hopefully get some pictures, which I'll post tomorrow.
Cheers,
Peter
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So let's see, an elected official, under the cover of a terror threat that has not been proved to be credilble has illegally sent the troops into territory he does not own, and without community support, in order to create mayhem and take over that territory, thereby "saving" it for the locals. Locals who do not want this "help" since it will cause them harm. Does that remind you of anything?
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Let's not let this continue, pilots! If you own a plane, make a trip to Toronto City Centre soon, buy some fuel, have lunch downtown Toronto, see a Blue Jays game (all walking distance from CYTZ) and support this airport. Same for Cleveland.
If you are corporate in a turboprop, try CYTZ instead of CYYZ.
If you are corporate in a turboprop, try CYTZ instead of CYYZ.
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What did the FAA say about this ? Hopefully the aircraft owners will take legal action against them as they should/will have the right to. Also wonder how Mayor Daley would feel if we tore up a hole in the ground around his car..... hehe 
.
.
Last edited by jet_breeze; 2nd Apr 2003 at 04:42.
More than just an ATCO
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My one and only visit to Chicago was with a friend in his Cherokee, VFR to Meig's- what a way to arrive.
Osama bin Daley is a bigger threat to any Arab
Off thread on this, but the thought just occured to me; what would happen if a large number of people "dropped a dime" to the Internal Revevue annonymously denouncing (sp?) someone for tax evasion? Would they investigate?
Osama bin Daley is a bigger threat to any Arab
Off thread on this, but the thought just occured to me; what would happen if a large number of people "dropped a dime" to the Internal Revevue annonymously denouncing (sp?) someone for tax evasion? Would they investigate?
jetsy
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Whats next..
The future of 16 stranded aircraft remained in question Tuesday, while pilots, businesses and hospitals looked for aviation alternatives following an abrupt decision by Mayor Richard Daley to close Meigs Field so it eventually can be converted to a park.
Pilots of the stranded planes said they had been told a decision won't be made until at least midday Wednesday on whether a not-yet-bulldozed taxiway can be used to fly the planes out of downtown.
Daley, who had the Meigs runway destroyed in the dark of the night late Sunday and early Monday, has pledged the city will pay for trucking the planes elsewhere if they can't be flown out.
City survey crews Tuesday examined the taxiway to determine whether it's large enough for the stranded aircraft to use as an emergency runway, as well as whether the surface is flat enough and undamaged from the runway destruction.
(from yahoo)
Pilots of the stranded planes said they had been told a decision won't be made until at least midday Wednesday on whether a not-yet-bulldozed taxiway can be used to fly the planes out of downtown.
Daley, who had the Meigs runway destroyed in the dark of the night late Sunday and early Monday, has pledged the city will pay for trucking the planes elsewhere if they can't be flown out.
City survey crews Tuesday examined the taxiway to determine whether it's large enough for the stranded aircraft to use as an emergency runway, as well as whether the surface is flat enough and undamaged from the runway destruction.
(from yahoo)
Before "Ze Germans" get here
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Deluge of e-mails?
I hope not to evoke the wrath of the moderators but may I suggest a deluge of e-mails to the mayors office from ppruners'? Just click on the picture of him on the previous page.
jetsy
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All gone but 2
As of 1700 local time all but 2 crafts have left Meigs using untouched taxiway. The 2, one to CA and the other to MO be gone by tomorrow.
The icon of 55 years is gone to make a room for the weeds.
If there is any comfort to the stranded craft owners, the city will reimburse them for the charges.. How nice.
The icon of 55 years is gone to make a room for the weeds.
If there is any comfort to the stranded craft owners, the city will reimburse them for the charges.. How nice.
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FAA relents, first planes leave Meigs
Meigs Field feud (Chicago Tribune)
April 1, 2003
By John McCormick
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 2, 2003, 3:45 PM CST
The stranded aircraft at Meigs Field finally took flight this afternoon after federal aviation officials changed their minds and agreed to let planes depart to the north.
City officials earlier scrubbed plans to let aircraft use a taxiway to take off from Meigs Field after a wind shift prevented take-offs to the south, as called for under a plan approved this morning by the Federal Aviation Administration.
But shortly before 2 p.m., the FAA decided aircraft could depart to the north at their pilots' discretion, according to Elizabeth Isham Cory, spokeswoman for the federal agency.
The first planes did so at about 2:15 p.m., using roughly half the length of the taxiway to get off the ground before making a gentle bank to the east over Lake Michigan as they cleared the airport.
Sixteen aircraft had been grounded at Meigs since early Monday, when the city without warning sent in heavy construction equipment to tear up the lakefront airport's runway. More than half had departed by 3:45 p.m.
Fourteen pilots came to Meigs this morning after receiving word from the city they finally could leave. But they were then delayed by the weather -- first, by strong crosswinds out of the west, and then, by a late-morning fog that suddenly enshrouded the lakefront. By the time the fog lifted, winds had swung around to the north.
An airplane can take off only into the wind. And an agreement reached earlier today between city officials and the FAA allowed departures only over open water to the south, a safety precaution in the event a plane lost power on take-off.
The FAA also decreed pilots could carry no passengers and only enough fuel to reach the nearest airport, Cory said. Additionally, the city made pilots sign waivers saying they accepted the risk of taking off from a taxiway, she said.
A spokesman for Mayor Richard Daley's office said the pilots were given three choices: To fly their own planes out, to have the city hire a professional pilot to do so, or to have their planes disassembled and trucked away at the city's expense. All of the pilots opted to fly out themselves.
Dr. Stan Crie and his wife, Canden, said city officials notified them this morning they could leave, but they'd have only a short time to do so. Last Friday, the couple flew their plane from their home in St. Joseph, Mo., to Chicago for a medical convention. They had intended to spend a few more days in town sightseeing but had to cut short their visit.
"We just had to cancel everything. Otherwise, we couldn't leave," Canden Crie said.
Both continued to express frustration with the city for having shut down Meigs and torn up the runway without warning Monday.
"It's like visiting a war zone," Stan Crie said.
The city has told pilots it will provide shuttles to the Gary airport for their spouses.
In a move that caught everyone by surprise, Daley ordered heavy construction equipment onto the airfield in Monday's predawn hours to carve giant Xs into Meigs' sole runway, rendering it unusable.
Daley, who has long wanted the airport converted into parkland, said later he no longer felt bound by an agreement with former Gov. George Ryan to keep Meigs open in exchange for the governor's support for federal legislation authorizing the expansion of O'Hare International Airport. That legislation never materialized.
The mayor promised to reimburse the 16 stranded pilots the costs of having their planes disassembled and trucked away, were that to become necessary. But city survey crews Tuesday determined to the FAA's satisfaction that Meigs' taxiway could be used safely for takeoffs.
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
Daley's abuse of power leaves marks on city
Published April 2, 2003
I've been trying to figure out Chicago's outrage over what Mayor Richard Daley did to Meigs Field, after he sent bulldozers at night to ruin the nice little lakefront airport.
And I started out to joke about how the savaging of a tiny airport upset so many. But then I realized that Mayor Little Big Man's destruction of Meigs isn't funny.
Yet his carving of the large ugly X's into the landing strip, his arrogance in brushing off questions, has accomplished something remarkable. He crystallized things for Chicago.
This is not a complicated story of insider deals, of contracts, connections, of documented paper trails.
Rather, it is simple, with photographs, something TV is interested in watching: the destruction of a valuable resource simply because it was in Daley's way, and because he knew no one could stop him.
Little Big Man finally revealed himself as the absolute boss ruling Chicago and Cook County with wrought-iron fists.
Most readers, and a few of his newfound critics, are bothered that he destroyed the airport at night. They're aggravated that he'd use a pathetic story--protecting Chicago from tiny-plane terrorism--as cover for vandalizing Meigs, which he has wanted to do for years.
Will it be another $500 million park--the bond financing arranged by the influential bond seller Tony Fratto, finally costing a billion in real money?
Or will it become a casino?
One thing it's not anymore is an airport. It was chopped up before the Friends of Meigs Field could get to a judge. But Daley is the one who elects judges.
Compared to other things he's done, Meigs is chump change, almost insignificant in dollars and in the exercise of power.
The other things weren't done at night. They were done during broad daylight, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of deals paid for by taxpayers.
The wrought iron from his pals, the concrete flower boxes, the asphalt, the gargantuan salt contracts, the salt spread so heavily each night in winter that city crews had to sweep the pasty choking stuff off the Loop streets in the morning.
The French bus shelter deal went through, with his allies on the CTA board attached. When Michigan Avenue merchants balked, they were threatened with blackmail by CTA boss "Honest" Frank Kruesi--their names and businesses were to be plastered on buses.
Or that goofy $600 million Soldier Field renovation--which squats rudely on the lakefront like a fat man trying to squeeze into a pair of tiny shorts.
Or the ridiculously expensive lakefront Millennium Park (Fratto's Field), the phony government minority contracts diverted instead to pink guys with Outfit connections, the car towing deals and so on.
Meanwhile, Daley's brothers get rich on zoning work and the political selling of insurance, and he sneers at those who dare question him.
Few do. Unfortunately, too many Chicago journalists, once considered tough, don't like to aggravate him with questions he doesn't want to answer.
What passes for TV news in Chicago isn't interested in covering politics like it once did. TV often ignores this newspaper's investigative reporting on City Hall and the gutsy editorials on the editorial page about political sleaze and costly layered deals of high-ranking cronies.
On Tuesday, though, even the once feisty Chicago Sun-Times, the Pravda of political Chicago, thought Daley had gone too far.
"Meigs maneuvers land Daley where critics want him," the newspaper headlined its editorial, apparently worried that he had clumsily exposed himself to some evil critic, whoever he is.
By using the awesome leverage of his control over local governments and the courts, by stoking public contracts and subsequent campaign donations to intimidate and buy off his opposition, he's the one boss.
He has co-opted not only the usual political hacks but, shrewdly, has also scooped up the once independent arts community, using organized subsidies, new theaters, grants for dancers, actors, artists, poets.
He has Jesse "The King of Beers" Jackson protecting his flank among blacks. His army of Latino patronage workers, the Hispanic Democratic Organization, weakens Spanish-speaking opposition.
And he remains white in the city of tribes.
Except for some of my colleagues at this newspaper, there is no real challenge to the manner in which he whips Chicago in line, with muscle and with fear.
If you don't believe the fear, ask any tavern owner or shopkeeper, cop, firefighter or city worker. Listen to the trembling voices of corporate business leaders when they're questioned about Meigs. They're terrified of angering him.
Yet for all of that, it has been his destruction of Meigs Field that has distilled one idea in many:
That Cook County and the people in it are his, that Daley can break his toys and leave them strewn on the ground, simply because he can.
[email protected]
Meigs Field feud (Chicago Tribune)
April 1, 2003
By John McCormick
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 2, 2003, 3:45 PM CST
The stranded aircraft at Meigs Field finally took flight this afternoon after federal aviation officials changed their minds and agreed to let planes depart to the north.
City officials earlier scrubbed plans to let aircraft use a taxiway to take off from Meigs Field after a wind shift prevented take-offs to the south, as called for under a plan approved this morning by the Federal Aviation Administration.
But shortly before 2 p.m., the FAA decided aircraft could depart to the north at their pilots' discretion, according to Elizabeth Isham Cory, spokeswoman for the federal agency.
The first planes did so at about 2:15 p.m., using roughly half the length of the taxiway to get off the ground before making a gentle bank to the east over Lake Michigan as they cleared the airport.
Sixteen aircraft had been grounded at Meigs since early Monday, when the city without warning sent in heavy construction equipment to tear up the lakefront airport's runway. More than half had departed by 3:45 p.m.
Fourteen pilots came to Meigs this morning after receiving word from the city they finally could leave. But they were then delayed by the weather -- first, by strong crosswinds out of the west, and then, by a late-morning fog that suddenly enshrouded the lakefront. By the time the fog lifted, winds had swung around to the north.
An airplane can take off only into the wind. And an agreement reached earlier today between city officials and the FAA allowed departures only over open water to the south, a safety precaution in the event a plane lost power on take-off.
The FAA also decreed pilots could carry no passengers and only enough fuel to reach the nearest airport, Cory said. Additionally, the city made pilots sign waivers saying they accepted the risk of taking off from a taxiway, she said.
A spokesman for Mayor Richard Daley's office said the pilots were given three choices: To fly their own planes out, to have the city hire a professional pilot to do so, or to have their planes disassembled and trucked away at the city's expense. All of the pilots opted to fly out themselves.
Dr. Stan Crie and his wife, Canden, said city officials notified them this morning they could leave, but they'd have only a short time to do so. Last Friday, the couple flew their plane from their home in St. Joseph, Mo., to Chicago for a medical convention. They had intended to spend a few more days in town sightseeing but had to cut short their visit.
"We just had to cancel everything. Otherwise, we couldn't leave," Canden Crie said.
Both continued to express frustration with the city for having shut down Meigs and torn up the runway without warning Monday.
"It's like visiting a war zone," Stan Crie said.
The city has told pilots it will provide shuttles to the Gary airport for their spouses.
In a move that caught everyone by surprise, Daley ordered heavy construction equipment onto the airfield in Monday's predawn hours to carve giant Xs into Meigs' sole runway, rendering it unusable.
Daley, who has long wanted the airport converted into parkland, said later he no longer felt bound by an agreement with former Gov. George Ryan to keep Meigs open in exchange for the governor's support for federal legislation authorizing the expansion of O'Hare International Airport. That legislation never materialized.
The mayor promised to reimburse the 16 stranded pilots the costs of having their planes disassembled and trucked away, were that to become necessary. But city survey crews Tuesday determined to the FAA's satisfaction that Meigs' taxiway could be used safely for takeoffs.
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
Daley's abuse of power leaves marks on city
Published April 2, 2003
I've been trying to figure out Chicago's outrage over what Mayor Richard Daley did to Meigs Field, after he sent bulldozers at night to ruin the nice little lakefront airport.
And I started out to joke about how the savaging of a tiny airport upset so many. But then I realized that Mayor Little Big Man's destruction of Meigs isn't funny.
Yet his carving of the large ugly X's into the landing strip, his arrogance in brushing off questions, has accomplished something remarkable. He crystallized things for Chicago.
This is not a complicated story of insider deals, of contracts, connections, of documented paper trails.
Rather, it is simple, with photographs, something TV is interested in watching: the destruction of a valuable resource simply because it was in Daley's way, and because he knew no one could stop him.
Little Big Man finally revealed himself as the absolute boss ruling Chicago and Cook County with wrought-iron fists.
Most readers, and a few of his newfound critics, are bothered that he destroyed the airport at night. They're aggravated that he'd use a pathetic story--protecting Chicago from tiny-plane terrorism--as cover for vandalizing Meigs, which he has wanted to do for years.
Will it be another $500 million park--the bond financing arranged by the influential bond seller Tony Fratto, finally costing a billion in real money?
Or will it become a casino?
One thing it's not anymore is an airport. It was chopped up before the Friends of Meigs Field could get to a judge. But Daley is the one who elects judges.
Compared to other things he's done, Meigs is chump change, almost insignificant in dollars and in the exercise of power.
The other things weren't done at night. They were done during broad daylight, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of deals paid for by taxpayers.
The wrought iron from his pals, the concrete flower boxes, the asphalt, the gargantuan salt contracts, the salt spread so heavily each night in winter that city crews had to sweep the pasty choking stuff off the Loop streets in the morning.
The French bus shelter deal went through, with his allies on the CTA board attached. When Michigan Avenue merchants balked, they were threatened with blackmail by CTA boss "Honest" Frank Kruesi--their names and businesses were to be plastered on buses.
Or that goofy $600 million Soldier Field renovation--which squats rudely on the lakefront like a fat man trying to squeeze into a pair of tiny shorts.
Or the ridiculously expensive lakefront Millennium Park (Fratto's Field), the phony government minority contracts diverted instead to pink guys with Outfit connections, the car towing deals and so on.
Meanwhile, Daley's brothers get rich on zoning work and the political selling of insurance, and he sneers at those who dare question him.
Few do. Unfortunately, too many Chicago journalists, once considered tough, don't like to aggravate him with questions he doesn't want to answer.
What passes for TV news in Chicago isn't interested in covering politics like it once did. TV often ignores this newspaper's investigative reporting on City Hall and the gutsy editorials on the editorial page about political sleaze and costly layered deals of high-ranking cronies.
On Tuesday, though, even the once feisty Chicago Sun-Times, the Pravda of political Chicago, thought Daley had gone too far.
"Meigs maneuvers land Daley where critics want him," the newspaper headlined its editorial, apparently worried that he had clumsily exposed himself to some evil critic, whoever he is.
By using the awesome leverage of his control over local governments and the courts, by stoking public contracts and subsequent campaign donations to intimidate and buy off his opposition, he's the one boss.
He has co-opted not only the usual political hacks but, shrewdly, has also scooped up the once independent arts community, using organized subsidies, new theaters, grants for dancers, actors, artists, poets.
He has Jesse "The King of Beers" Jackson protecting his flank among blacks. His army of Latino patronage workers, the Hispanic Democratic Organization, weakens Spanish-speaking opposition.
And he remains white in the city of tribes.
Except for some of my colleagues at this newspaper, there is no real challenge to the manner in which he whips Chicago in line, with muscle and with fear.
If you don't believe the fear, ask any tavern owner or shopkeeper, cop, firefighter or city worker. Listen to the trembling voices of corporate business leaders when they're questioned about Meigs. They're terrified of angering him.
Yet for all of that, it has been his destruction of Meigs Field that has distilled one idea in many:
That Cook County and the people in it are his, that Daley can break his toys and leave them strewn on the ground, simply because he can.
[email protected]
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