Hot off the press from Aero-News Network:
AOPA Takes Over Ownership of Meigs Field
Sat, 01 Apr '06
Startling Turn-About In The Meigs Saga To Be Announced Shortly
04.01.06 'Special' Edition: In a breathtaking change of scene for the Chicago landscape, ANN has learned that AOPA will shortly announce their legal ownership of Meigs Field. This masterstroke, coming just three years since Chicago Boss/Mayor Richard Daley bull-dozed the field under the cover of darkness and deception, signals a tremendous turn-around in one of the most hotly contested issues in civil aviation history.
The details surrounding this breathtaking news are a bit murky at the moment, involving a series of lawsuits, some insider information from a former Daley "confidante" named Lola, and a late night "Winner Take All" poker game ultimately won by Phil "The Shark" Boyer in which the title to the field was placed in the pot when Daley blew a few bad bluffs and came up with little more than a pair of deuces.
AOPA has been quietly seeking partners for the restoration of the field, and inviting industry businesses to move to or enter into new business operations at the airport so that its future will be assured for a long time to come. While the ownership of a major GA airport is a new venture for the widely respected organization, AOPA sees the acquisition as a "trust" to be maintained on behalf of the entire GA community.
ANN contacted AOPA for comments and got a guarded response from AOPA's EVP of Communications, Jeff Myers, who was surprised that ANN has already confirmed this story. "Obviously, there's a limited amount that we can talk about at this time, Jim, and I can't talk at all about how we actually got title to the property, but I can tell you that AOPA plans to open a major field office at Meigs, that the FAA has already planned to set up a new regional office on the field--and promised funds for runway rebuilding, that a number of businesses are already signing on to conduct operations at the airport, that we plan an annexation vote in order to remove the airport from the city limits of Chicago, and that nobody, and I mean NOBODY, can pull off a Straight Flush like Phil Boyer..."
ANN will have more to report on this story shortly and expects to offer an Aero-Cast with Phil Boyer as soon as some of the legal details are cleared up.
