# Closing Miegs Field **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 31, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525 "2003-03-31T20:15:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/201 "2003-05-23T21:54:43Z")
[[URL=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-030523meigs,1,1276060.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed"]Meigs backers lose in federal court](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-030523meigs,1,1276060.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed%5B/url) after losing in state court earlier today. Any comments? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/202 "2003-05-23T23:06:30Z")
Yes, I’ll lament the passing of a landmark as I fly PAST Chicago with a wallet full of money. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/203 "2003-05-23T23:50:04Z")
Comments? Sure, **lee** , I have a comment: Get your facts straight before you post The “Meigs backers” did not “lose” in Federal Court - that lawsuit is _still pending_. The only thing lost in Federal Court today was a request for a temporary restraining order. As for the state court - yes, the state lawsuit was thrown out. An appeal has already been filed with the Illinois State Appellate Court. So no, it’s not over yet. [AOPA’s write up on the matter](http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2003/03-2-158x.html) But, from the article you referenced - which you can’t get to without registering, thanks for opening posters up to spam, **lee** - I will select a few items so other folks don’t have to be assaulted with the Tribune’s “helpful”, “informational” e-mails: > [@](#): > > Groups trying to save Meigs Field suffered a second legal setback when a federal judge in Chicago this afternoon denied their emergency request for an order barring the city from resuming demolition of the lakefront airport. As you can see, it was a restraining order that was rejected in Federal Court, not the Federal lawsuit. > [@](#): > > The judge noted Northerly Island, on which Meigs was sited, was created as parkland. It was turned into an airport in the late 1940s at the urging of Chicago newspaper publisher Merrill Meigs. Well, let’s go back to 1837 when Chicago was incorporated and _nothing_ east of Michigan avenue existed yet. Clearly, God intended Northerly Island (and the museum campus, Streeterville, McCormick Place, etc.) to be a LAKE, not a park, so let’s return it to water. Cars didn’t exist when the Burham Plan was developed, yet we have parking lots all up and down the lakefront. I don’t see where we can’t have less than a mile of pavement for airplanes. Terrorist threat? Excuse me? The recent bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco - were they carried out with “small planes” or with cars, pickups, and SUV’s? Yet we _still_ allow anyone to just willy-nilly drive through the heart of the Loop? Who knows who these people are, or where they’re going? They could be _anybody_. They could just pull up alongside the City/County building in a Ford Econovan full of explosives. Seems to me, _based upon historical occurances_, the odds of a terrorist attack being carried out with car or small truck is still much higher than with a small airplane. > [@](#): > > Maki’s decision came a day after AOPA, a national pilots organization, proposed having the city pay the park district $41 million to buy Meigs and recoup most of the cost by seeking a federal airport grant. > > Mayor Richard Daley rejected the proposal. The mayor has long advocated turning Meigs into a nature sanctuary. Park district officials also dismissed the proposal, saying the $41 million purchase price was unrealistically low, and that the district was unlikely to sell the land at any price. Uh, yeah - AOPA comes up with a way for the city to basically _sell land it already owns back to itself_ and the Mayor rejects it. Nevermind that the city is starving for money, the moola would be enough to not only repair the airport _but also_ build a park and even use the money to _further_ increase security on Northerly Island _and_ the museum campus. In other words, Daley’s oponents in this lawsuit came up with a way for the city to come out $41 million ahead - and Daley poo-poo’ed it. Clearly, it’s _not_ about money for Da Mare. And a “nature sanctuary” _on a landfill?_. That’s about as natural as bifocals. Call it a park - _nothing_ east of Michigan Avenue is “natural” in any sense of the word. Except there will never be a park on Northerly Island. Daley wants a casino. He wants it on Northerly Island (if land based) or the parking lot on Northerly Island (if floating) - which means a heck of a lot more pavement out there than is currently in existance. Truth is, you could have nature _and_ an airport - the one I fly out of is next door to a prarie restoration project home to all sorts of wild critters, including North American Ospreys and Blue Herons. We all co-exist pretty well. > [@](#): > > Daley has cited security concerns as his reason for closing Meigs. He reiterated those fears Thursday, saying terrorists could fly a small plane from Meigs and crash it into a downtown target. :rolleyes: Here we go again - using “security” to get his way. Excuse me, didn’t he say just after the debacle in late March that security _wasn’t_ the issue? Didn’t that appear in numerous places in print, on TV? Either he was lying then, or he’s lying now - either way, he’s a liar. Please see earlier posts in this thread re: Daley’s basic dishonesty, references to laws broken, discussion of so-called threat of small aircraft, and how the lack of an airport tower at Meigs Field actually decreases lakefront and airspace safety. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/204 "2003-05-24T00:04:37Z")
I also wish to offer a quote from the _Sun-Times_, including a quote from Da Mare himself, in reference to the buy-out plan that would have put the city of Chicago tens of millions of dollars ahead in finances: > [@](#): > > Daley scoffed at the plan, saying, "It’s our lakefront. It’s not your lakefront. It’s the people’s lakefront How, uh, _wonderful_ :dubious: :rolleyes: to know that the Mayor of City does not include me in the category of “people”. I am a person. I paid taxes in Chicago for 15 years. I want an airport on Northerly Island - oh, wait, I forgot, I’m a _pilot_ so I don’t count. Truth is, it’s _Daley’s_ lakefront. He’ll do what he wants and to hell with “the people” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/205 "2003-05-24T11:44:55Z")
Latest update, available for viewing at [www.friendsofmeigs.org](http://www.friendsofmeigs.org) (scroll down to find the latest news section): At 4:45 pm on Friday, May 23 the Illinois State Appellate court stayed the dissolution of the temporary restraining order against Mayor Richard M. Daley, the City of Chicago, and the Chicago Park District, prohibiting further damage to Meigs until June 4 at 4:00 pm. They have a link to a PDF copy of the actual legal document, for your viewing pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/206 "2003-05-27T20:48:25Z")
Gee! I posted what I did as that was the headline of the article I was referencing, nothing more. tsk. tsk. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/207 "2003-05-31T14:00:03Z")
Looks like it’s all over but the bulldozing: [Park cleared to land at Meigs Last legal bars lifted by court](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0305310057may31,1,2925785.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed) > [@](#): > > Lifting the only legal barrier to Mayor Richard Daley’s plan to convert Meigs Field into a park, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled Friday that Chicago has the right to remove the remains of a runway and other structures at the now-closed lakeside airport. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/208 "2004-10-04T00:35:23Z")
I rarely venture into GD, found this by searching. FAA to sure over Meigs: [http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=124c2997-5a2f-44e0-8902-5d262a70a7d2&](http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=124c2997-5a2f-44e0-8902-5d262a70a7d2&) Brian ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/209 "2004-10-04T12:32:39Z")
The FAA is also investigating whether or not 1 to 1-1/2 million in airport _improvement_ funds were used to pay to _destroy_ an airport. If so, the City of Chicago could be on the hook for around 4 million in restitution and penalities. I imagine that will take its time winding through the machinery, though. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525/210 "2004-10-28T03:26:44Z")
> [@](#): > > I imagine that will take its time winding through the machinery, though. Pitiably, it won’t be Dickey “winding his way through the machinery”. Now THAT I’d like to see. b. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-miegs-field/165525.md?page=10)