Task force should not delay recommending Peotone airport
June 1, 2001
We could not be more pleased that the issues of airport capacity and congestion are occupying the front pages of many Chicago area newspapers these days. Last month's dismal FAA report, coupled with the threat of Congress deciding our region's airport future for us, has turned up the heat on an issue that should have been resolved a decade ago.
O'Hare Airport, once the "World's Busiest Airport," lost its esteemed title to Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport several years ago, but has moved up the ladder to become No. 3 in the nation in delays, according to an FAA study released last month. The same report casts an even gloomier forecast for the future of air travel into and out of Chicago: Over the next decade, demand is projected to grow three times faster than planned capacity improvements can accommodate. Over the next 20 years, delays are expected to more than double what they are today.
As such, we were comforted to learn that the 2001 Chicago Delay Task Force will begin next month to study short- and long-term solutions to our air capacity issues. We encourage the task force to approach these problems as regional issues with broad-reaching effects. The solutions proffered will affect the dealings of business executives and lives of Illinois citizens from the Wisconsin border to south of Kankakee.
We strongly recommend that the task force include representatives from the entire Chicago area, including southern Cook, Will and Kankakee counties. To this extent, we offer our support, our expertise and our extensive research on the regional benefits of a third Chicago airport at Peotone. Building the Peotone airport is a smart move for all involved.
First: The land is there, and Gov. Ryan has given the go-ahead to start buying it. The land is ready for development. The Peotone airport can solve the capacity problem much sooner and at a far lesser cost than additional or rebuilt runways at O'Hare.
Second: The Peotone airport creates economic parity throughout the metropolitan region. The economic center of our region has shifted from Chicago's Loop to the suburban O'Hare area, with a gain of some 60,000 jobs. Meanwhile, thousands of jobs have disappeared on Chicago's South Side and in the southern suburbs. The Peotone airport is the economic engine that will revitalize a mature urban area and attract jobs and industry to a residentially attractive but job-deficient area and distribute the wealth more evenly throughout the region.
Third: Regional support for this airport is growing every day. Illinois' ranking political leaders on the federal, state and local levels are calling for a third airport to relieve congestion and delays, build capacity and meet the growing air transportation needs of the region.
The time to act is now. Let us work together to relieve O'Hare congestion and to reach a compromise on the third airport.
John Greuling, president, Will County Chamber of Commerce Edward Paesel, executive director, South Suburban Mayors and Managers David Hinderliter, president, Kankakee River Valley Chamber of Commerce
Schoolhouse, big house
I am tired of hearing discipline-strict schools described as jails by students and parents. Jails are where you are sent if convicted of a crime. Schools are supposed to be preparing you for the future. I went to elementary school back in a time when respect for authority meant something.
Now I am a working professional and a contributing member of society. What I see in many schools is chaos--the kind stemming from a lack of discipline and control as well as the poor upbringing of children.
Jails should be insulted by being compared with schools. From what I read in the media about cheating, shooting and other crimes, it appears that schools might start turning out just as many criminals as the jails.
Laurence Siegel, Manteno
Decree of mediocrity
President Bush's comment that one can be president even with C-average grades in college is false. I believe Bush is mistaken on how he managed to become president. It is not because of his intelligence or experience in public service. It is because of his family roots. If you do not have wealth and influence, as Bush does, your chances of becoming president are minimal.
Bush should inform students that if you are not a Bush, Kennedy or Rockefeller, you better get good grades. Bush should recant so he doesn't encourage mediocrity, because for mainstream Americans, mediocrity is rewarded with a mediocre job.
Tom Russell, Park Russell
Let truth be told
Years from today, the truth about Chicago police officer Michael Ceriale's murder will be known ["Guilty verdict in cop killing case," news story, May 24]. And as much older and bitter victim Jonathan Tolliver emerges from a system that wrongly convicted him on razor-thin evidence, many will try to tell him they are sorry. The Sun-Times and the Chicago Police Department have discredited anyone who had anything like justice and truth on their minds, with the typical media blitz claiming the witnesses are gang-influenced.
We used to cheer when one juror would stand up against the system, and make movies about their courage. "Twelve Angry Men" wouldn't have been made about a teen from Chicago's projects. The Tolliver jury sent him to jail on evidence that was dubious at best.
Thank God I didn't have on an orange T-shirt that night. I would undoubtedly be in Cook County Jail now. We deserve more, like the truth beyond a doubt.
Darryl Cotton, Near North Side
Chavez off base
In her column [May 16] defending John Ashcroft's daily Bible study meetings in the workplace, Linda Chavez raises false issues--secular fear of religion, First Amendment issues--and avoids the obvious issue: pressure from the boss unrelated to the job.
The Bible meetings raise just that pressure with Ashcroft's employees, regardless of what ideology or religion he professes, or how "voluntary" the meetings are supposed to be. I know I would feel such pressure. I would like Chavez to confront that obvious issue in a future column.
George Flynn, Lincoln Park
GOP gets its just deserts
Contrary to the prevailing wisdom, Republicans didn't lose the Senate because they were too conservative; they lost it because they weren't libertarian enough. That's what prompted voters in 1998 and 2000 to desert Republican candidates and vote for Libertarians--which cost the GOP at least two U.S. Senate seats.
In each case, the Libertarian Party candidate won considerably more votes than the losing candidate's margin: Slade Gorton lost by 2,229 votes in Washington, while Libertarian Jeff Jared won 64,734 votes; and John Ensign lost by 428 votes in Nevada, while Libertarian Michael Cloud won 8,044 votes.
Those two races turned what would have been a 52-48 Republican majority into a 50-50 split in the Senate--and set the dramatic stage for James Jeffords' switch and the creation of what is effectively a Democratic majority.
As long as Republicans keep voting for bigger, more expensive and more intrusive government, libertarian-leaning voters will keep deserting them. And unless they start voting more like Libertarians, Republicans should get used to their minority status.
Austin Hough, state chairman, Libertarian Party of Illinois
Peotone shouldn't fly
I'm sure someone has told me before, but I forget things sometimes. Gov. Ryan and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) plan to build one or two runways near Peotone to reduce congestion at O'Hare Airport.
Let's say I was flying in from New York: What do I do after I land? How do I then get to Chicago? That's a long and very expensive taxi ride. Or will Greyhound provide limo service? The CTA Red Line ends at 95th Street.
Does every arriving traveler rent a car to get from the "(air)field of dreams" to Second City? What if I need a connecting flight to Los Angeles? Will there be a free helicopter shuttle to Midway and/or O'Hare? If they build it, who will use it?
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