Here is the latest News..........

Sun, Jun 1 2003

Chicago Mayor Gets Green Light To Destroy Meigs Field
But Other Appeals Still Pending
It's a serious setback for supports of Meigs Field in Chicago - the GA airport whose runway was rendered unusable by bulldozers in the middle of the night on orders from Mayor Richard Daley. Friday, an Illinois state appeals court gave Daley the go-ahead to finish the job.

TRO Lifted
The late-Friday afternoon decision lifted a temporary restraining order banning further destruction of Meigs pending a lawsuit filed by the Friends Of Meigs Field and other airport advocates. The TRO had been in effect for exactly one week. It allows Daley and his wrecking crews to go forward with plans to plow the entire airport under - destroying hangars, administrative offices, FBOs and the control tower complex.

More Setbacks
Also on Friday, AOPA withdrew its much-vaunted lawsuit aimed at stopping Daley from further destroying the lakeside airport. The federal lawsuit was dropped as the Illinois State Legislature weeded out pro-Meigs language from two aviation-related bills aimed at expanding O'Hare Airport.

"This whole thing is about what's good and bad government," said Steven Whitney, chairman of the Friends of Meigs Field, quoted in Saturday's Chicago Sun-Times. "What this seems to say is that it's fine for the city fathers to go about destroying public assets in the dark of night. Everybody we've talked to thinks that wrong. It's discouraging that the court thinks it's OK."

But Whitney isn't giving up yet. Friends of Meigs and other airport supporters vow to take the issue to the Illinois Supreme Court or even take the case to federal court if they aren't able to stop Meigs' destruction.

Yeah I agree Craig....it is "old news". Just thought I would post it for anybody who might be interested. I know that we hear more about it in America, so for those across the way, maybe they might want to know.

Dave

  I think it's terrible, I don't know how many times I have sat on the seawall at the planetarium and watched planes takeoff and land at Meigs, on a nice day in the summer it was actually quite busy at times.
  If you were a real pilot, you could fly into Meigs and walk to the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Soldier Field, Grant Park and Downtown Chicago, among other interesting places.
  I live straight across the lake in Michigan and it takes us nearly 2 hours to drive to Chicago, if I were a pilot, I could fly into Meigs in no time and enjoy a day exploring Chicago's awesome attractions, now pilots will have to fly into Midway and pay for a rental car or Taxi (very expensive) to get downtown.
  I was really hoping they would stop Dictator Daley from this blatent abuse of power, but I'm sure he has freinds in high places that will make sure his dream of destroying Meigs and turning the land into a flower garden goes through.
  Once he gets away with this, it makes you wonder what he will destroy next in his real life game of Sim City.