FAA Goes after Chicago on Meigs

The latest information on this despicable saga is on AOPA's web site:



http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...1006meigs.html

[...]

Daley said he closed Meigs because of security concerns following the
September 11, 2001, terror attacks, adding, "I don't think small
planes should be flying whatsoever in the metropolitan area,
especially in the city of Chicago."

[...]

Daley is also attempting to justify the city's possible misuse of
$1.49 million in federal grants and passenger facility charges to tear
up Meigs. The mayor claimed that the city, which leased the land for
Meigs Field from the Chicago Park District, "lost its lease" and had
no choice but to close the airport. And because the city could no
longer use the land as an airport, it was obligated to restore the
property to its original condition.

That's another of the partial truths propagated by city spokespeople.
While the Park District is nominally independent of the City of
Chicago, the mayor appoints the seven-member board of park
commissioners. To think that the Park District doesn't do exactly what
the mayor wants would demonstrate a certain naiveté about Chicago
power politics. And not to put too fine a point on it, but the man who
ramrodded Meigs' destruction from the mayor's office is now the
superintendent of the parks district.

So what about using federal money to "restore" the property? The FAA
says that federal airport monies must be used for improving and
enhancing airports. Period. Daley claims that federal money was used
to dismantle the old Denver Stapleton airport. The mayor again has
made selective use of the facts. Stapleton was replaced by Denver
International Airport. The federal government does sometimes allow the
closure of a grant-obligated airport, if it is being replaced by a
better facility.

But there's another little legal nicety that the City of Chicago may
have forgotten. The expenditure of federal funds has to be approved
before the fact. Federal funds aren't part of one big slush fund for
local politicians to spend anyway they want — not even for the mayor
of Chicago.