Why would a potential donor be inclined to donate money to this thing knowing full well that it has no support from the city? I could see re-building it into an investment opportunity, but again, there's an additional substantial risk associated with that in not having the city support. Understand, I'm all for seeing Meigs re-built. I would stop there in a heartbeat on the way to Oshkosh. It just needs to make sense, and right now, it looks scary. I wouldn't even put it past the city to tell the Feds, AOPA, and every GA pilot that they're going to re-build Meigs only to renege on the deal and keep the money. They're untouchable. History has demonstrated this. Had Blagojevich kept his mouth shut, and his ego in check, he'd be walking free right now. He went outside of "the code" and burned himself.
It is my belief, based on several threads in this forum, that the members who represent ALPA are 100% opposed to General Aviation. Anything that takes away from airline revenue generation is a threat to airline pilot jobs; at least that is the mantra they want you to believe. I thought the threads exemplified this, until I looked up who Roger Cohen is. No idea who he was until today. To me, it would make sense to partner with Mr. Cohen to collectively become more powerful, to create a larger voice for pilots and the jobs of pilots. Clearly, there are those who see Mr. Cohen as a threat, and as some sort of treasonous traitor. I'm not talking about the politics involved, or who believes what, or why, or any of that. I'm talking only from the relationship building potential, and the networking opportunities.