Too bad it wasn't a bigger fine.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050906meigs-story,0,2229434.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Chicago fined for closing Meigs Field   By Jon Hilkevitch Tribune transportation reporter September 6, 2005, 8:57 PM CDT Chicago will have to pay a $33,000 civil penalty this month or request a hearing in connection with its unannounced shutdown of Meigs Field 2½ years ago, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday. An FAA investigation determined that city aviation officials failed to provide the required 30-day notice before Mayor Richard Daley ordered bulldozers to carve large "X's'' into the runway at the lakefront airport after midnight on March 30, 2003. The FAA last October assessed penalties of $1,100 a day, covering 30 days. "We are saying either send us a check for $33,000 or request a hearing'' before an administrative law judge, said FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory. The Daley administration is reviewing its options, said city Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle. The mayor said he closed Meigs based on security concerns after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said small planes flying near downtown created a potential terrorist threat. Meigs supporters accused Daley of using public safety as an excuse to get out of his 2001 agreement with then-Gov. George Ryan to keep Meigs open in exchange for Ryan's supporting expansion of O'Hare International Airport. The mayor's wife, Maggie, has long sought to transform Northerly Island, which included Meigs, into a nature park. An FAA letter to the Chicago Aviation Department dated Aug. 31 said the city has 15 days to pay the $33,000 penalty or ask for a hearing. Hoyle said Tuesday that the city had not been "officially served yet.'' Attorneys for the city unsuccessfully appealed the $33,000 fine in December. They now can make a final appeal for a hearing or pay the fine. Meanwhile, the FAA has a related case against the city for using $1.5 million in federal grants and airline passenger taxes to demolish Meigs, which has been turned into a city park and concert venue. The $1.5 million was earmarked to make repairs at O'Hare. The FAA could order the city to repay any improperly used funds or impose penalties of up to $4.5 million--three times the amount of the diverted money. The city has told the FAA that its use of federal funds to demolish Meigs was legal. The case is still open. The FAA has no authority to order the reopening of Meigs. The city disclosed in December that removing Meigs' runway and restoring Northerly Island to parkland cost $2.9 million--almost twice as much as Chicago Park District and city officials had estimated. --- [email protected]

Too bad the taxpayers of the city will have to pay it, rather than Da Mayor, who's the one who decided to break the law...



Larry

Quoted: Too bad the taxpayers of downstate will have to pay it, rather than Da Mayor, who's the one who decided to break the law... Larry

Fixed it.

Next Blastfest I will bring out some hard hats to shoot at from the company that put the "X's" into the runways!

Just dont look at my trucks side markings when I pull in!

Sucks...

I would rather have seen the FAA tell him to put the airport back...

Quoted: Next Blastfest I will bring out some hard hats to shoot at from the company that put the "X's" into the runways! Just dont look at my trucks side markings when I pull in!

I don't blame the contractor, I'm a Contractor. I also could care less about Meigs Field and the fact that wealthy Babyboomers have nowhere to land their toys in Downtown Chicago (Meigs served no true purpose). If the City of Chicago wanted to pay me to destroy something in that hell hole, I would gladly.

The problem I have is that Daley is a Tyrant and feels as if he is outside the parameter of law in which the rest of us peasants are bound to.

I'm sick of my neigbors kid detailing cars in his parents driveway every single weekend of everysingle Summer. Can I carve giant X's in their driveway in the middle of the night to put an end to it?

D'oh!

I'm sick of my neigbors kid detailing cars in his parents driveway every single weekend of everysingle Summer. Can I carve giant X's in their driveway in the middle of the night to put an end to it?

Why yes, you can. As long as your last name starts with 'Da' and ends with 'ley', and you're a Dick. If that's the case, you can do whatever you damn well please.


Larry

Quoted: ....I also could care less about Meigs Field and the fact that wealthy Babyboomers have nowhere to land their toys in Downtown Chicago (Meigs served no true purpose). If the City of Chicago wanted to pay me to destroy something in that hell hole, I would gladly....

Mr. Patriot,

I beg to differ on your assessment of CGX (Meigs Field). I worked at CGX for over three years as an air traffic controller for the FAA. Matter of fact, I was the last FAA controller out the door when the airport first closed in 1996 (when it re-opened in 1997, there was a private contractor providing ATC service).

CGX was NOT the playground of "wealthy Babyboomers." The airport was a major player (believe it or not) in the air traffic system serving Chicago. During conventions at McCormick Place, the airport would handle hundreds of corporate jets that would otherwise have to land at Midway or O'Hare. People do not realize that, large or small, an aircraft takes up  a certain amount of space in the air traffic system. So, all of those corporate aircraft that land at CGX are freeing up space for arrivals and departures into ORD and MDW. Another function of CGX was the separation of the numerous aircraft that transited daily up and down the Chicago shoreline. It must be noted that we were not allowed to count the traffic we worked through the CGX Class D airspace (at other FAA facilities, if it flies thru your airspace, it gets counted). If this traffic were counted, CGX would be a lot busier than most would believe. One thing to note is that the City of Chicago wanted to run the airport into the ground. The City continually cites "lower numbers of operations" at the airport each year. This is because they tried to discourage use of CGX. The landing fees where outrageous (I cannot remember the exact amount) and for years, they refused to invest in a viable instrument approach (the City later allowed an instrument approach).

With good planning, the City of Chicago could have turned CGX into the premier downtown airport of the US, with a first class airport, parkland, and the harbor. Instead, they chose to grind it up and turn it into a 10000 seat concert venue (in direct conflict w/ Dailey's assertions that the land was need for more park space for Chicago's citizenry).

I miss working at CGX, it was the best view in the FAA.