Closing Meigs Field

We were in Chicago a few weeks ago and went out to where Meigs was. It was supposed to be turned into this great park. NOT. Grassy field with lots of weeds.

Daley had said for a long time he wanted to close the field and he gave the Feds the finger, went in the middle of the night and chopped up the runway. It does give meaning to 'Chicago style politics'.

Odd thing was while meandering the field, the lone guy out with his daughter flying a Kite had been with the same airline I flew for.
 
Orange Anchor said:
We were in Chicago a few weeks ago and went out to where Meigs was. It was supposed to be turned into this great park. NOT. Grassy field with lots of weeds.

Daley had said for a long time he wanted to close the field and he gave the Feds the finger, went in the middle of the night and chopped up the runway. It does give meaning to 'Chicago style politics'.

Odd thing was while meandering the field, the lone guy out with his daughter flying a Kite had been with the same airline I flew for.
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Yeah, the fact that it isnt even a nice park now is the icing on the cake. Just weeds, and tiny trees... :mad:

I would love to meet him someday, just so that he can put a face to those letters he got from an angry 10 year old back in the day. :D
 
tlewis95 said:
Yeah, the fact that it isnt even a nice park now is the icing on the cake. Just weeds, and tiny trees... :mad:

I would love to meet him someday, just so that he can put a face to those letters he got from an angry 10 year old back in the day. :D
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He is one of the few people that, if I met him, I would not shake his hand.

And I'd be happy to tell him why....
 
ProudPilot said:
Ok Mike, do we need to get into a "real aviator" discussion?
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I'd say so, esp for some I've come across who are heartbroken like they were physically based at that field. :D

Kind of reminds me of the people that felt a deep, personal loss and subsequent depression when MJ died.. :)
 
MQAAord said:
He is one of the few people that, if I met him, I would not shake his hand.

And I'd be happy to tell him why....
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Ha. That is exactly what I just told my friend about 30 seconds ago. To be able to just stand with my arms crossed in the line of people he is shaking hands with would be a good feeling.
 
I don't know if I would classify closing Meigs Field as a "mistake", but it was certainly short sighted, deceitful, and self-serving.

I never flew into or out of Meigs, I moved to the general area too late. Must've been a pretty cool, unique approach to land with a major cityscape so close, not to mention the easy access to downtown. I image it would be similar to flying into Burke Lakefront (BKL) in Cleveland, or better yet, Toronto City Centre (CYTZ - another embattled GA airport).

Anyway, in 2007 and 2008, I flew a guy to Chicago several times a week from Ohio in a Saratoga. We usually flew into Midway, but he used to always talk about how much easier and convenient it was to go into Meigs. Point is, the Meigs closure certainly shifted more slow traffic to airports like Midway...at least 6 operations a week just from us alone. Next time a Southwest 7-3 driver is complaining about following slower GA aircraft on final to Midway, he can thank Mr. Daley.

And using safety and security as one of the excuses to close the field was simply playing on the fears and lack of knowledge of the non-aviation public. In reality, by taking away the Class D airspace of Meigs, you can fly GA up and down Lake Shore Drive without talking to anyone if you want.
 
CFIT99 said:
wow...really, based on this comment you haven no idea what your talking about...

(if it wasn't meant to be malicious...then please forget the above comment)
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I don't?

Boycotting Chicago wont bring back Meigs, I know that. But if people stop coming to your city because of corrupt politics, people will either vote the scum out of office, or the city will die... and if that's the case.. well... no big loss I guess.

but please, if you see it differently, enlighten me.
 
MikeD said:
That's the thing that kind of humors me about the major hype over the closing of Meigs; most people going bonkers about it have never been there or have any connection to it. And I'm talking hype far and beyond the reasonable anger over closing a GA field for no viable reason. The anger was "Daley closed Meigs field!!!", not really a "Daley closed a GA field!". For some reason, I don't think if it was the mayor of Mesa, AZ closing Falcon Field to make it a park and development area, that there'd be half the widespread anger over and beyond that of local pilots; it'd be just the standard anger over "some other GA field" being closed due to development/encroachment/noise, etc.
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How do you feel about the way people who had never been in the World Trade Center buildings reacted on September 11, 2001?
 
PeterPilot said:
How do you feel about the way people who had never been in the World Trade Center buildings reacted on September 11, 2001?
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Apples and oranges comparison of the biggest disaster event in the CONUS vs a municpal airport being closed overnight and bulldozed. Like I said, if this were Mesa Falcon Field in AZ being closed, you likely wouldn't see half the ire over it.
 
MikeD said:
Apples and oranges comparison of the biggest disaster event in the CONUS vs a municpal airport being closed overnight and bulldozed. Like I said, if this were Mesa Falcon Field in AZ being closed, you likely wouldn't see half the ire over it.
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There was a small grass field near here that got closed down a few years ago, and yes, I was quite sad about that too. Meigs' destruction is unique in it's location, fame & method of destruction. I take it on such a personal level, myself, because I lived in Chicago for 10 years, went to Meigs many times, my Dad got to fly in there once or twice, and it was just a really neat place to visit.
 
MQAAord said:
There was a small grass field near here that got closed down a few years ago, and yes, I was quite sad about that too. Meigs' destruction is unique in it's location, fame & method of destruction. I take it on such a personal level, myself, because I lived in Chicago for 10 years, went to Meigs many times, my Dad got to fly in there once or twice, and it was just a really neat place to visit.
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Which is why, IMO, yours and a number of others' with a direct connection to the place is far more understandable than some I've run into.
 
AirmetTango said:
I image it would be similar to flying into Burke Lakefront (BKL) in Cleveland...
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There's at least one highly vocal radio talk host in Cleveland that's trying to get someone to shut down BKL and develop the lakefront area.

I hate to say it...but I agree with him. That's some prime real estate that could be used for tax revenue generating properties...not a reliever airport.

-mini
 
minitour said:
There's at least one highly vocal radio talk host in Cleveland that's trying to get someone to shut down BKL and develop the lakefront area.

I hate to say it...but I agree with him. That's some prime real estate that could be used for tax revenue generating properties...not a reliever airport.

-mini
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You forgot your sarcasm tag.
 
MikeD said:
Apples and oranges comparison of the biggest disaster event in the CONUS vs a municpal airport being closed overnight and bulldozed. Like I said, if this were Mesa Falcon Field in AZ being closed, you likely wouldn't see half the ire over it.
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You really think so? A person has to be able to connect the dots to see the comparison between domestic and foreign terrorist. However you are probably correct about half as much ire over Falcon Field, but that has much more to do with the historical significance, the greater population density, and the unique opportunity it provided to general aviation compared to Falcon Field.
<O:p
Incidentally, the Johnstown Flood in 1889 and <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" /><st1:City>San Francisco</st1:City> earthquake of 1906 were both bigger disaster events in CONUS in proportion to the population than 9/11.
 
PeterPilot said:


You really think so? A person has to be able to connect the dots to see the comparison between domestic and foreign terrorist. However you are probably correct about half as much ire over Falcon Field, but that has much more to do with the historical significance, the greater population density, and the unique opportunity it provided to general aviation compared to Falcon Field.
<O:p
Incidentally, the Johnstown Flood in 1889 and <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" /><st1:City>San Francisco</st1:City> earthquake of 1906 were both bigger disaster events in CONUS in proportion to the population than 9/11.
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True, I should say terrorism related event here in the USA and in recent memory. Falcon has some good history to it, but its more local history I guess. I just find it coming across as somewhat disingenuous for some people to be so riled up over one airports closure, but not another, when it turns out they had no real ties to either.
 
I just hate how sleaze-bag politicians like Daley think they are above the law and all they get is a slap on the wrist.
 
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