Reopen Meigs

[dashtrash]

I was the latest. Come on guys!

 

[flywithruss]

Petition signed, and letter published in the Sun-Times today. See the online edition at:

Chicago Sun-Times Letter to the Editor

Keep the fight going.

R

 

[wxman]

"Baghdad on the Lake"

Just signed both petitions. AOPA Member since 1987. Former resident of Chicago (almost embarassed to say). Currently a full-time flight instructor.

The Chicago Tribune had some pretty good editorials concerning this issue. What a shame. What an abuse of power. To do this without warning, in the middle of the night... what a cowardly act.

If the Mayor is concerned about security, why not close down Midway too? What about trucks, SUVs, boats, etc.? He is using the cover of darkness, and the distraction of current events, to attack a major landmark in his own city. What a pity!

 

[dmspilot00]

Just to keep you updated and move this thread to the top:


From AOPA.Org:

We've only just begun to fight
AOPA rolls up its sleeves to battle Daley

Apr. 2 — Mayor Daley may have won the battle with his sneak attack on Meigs Field airport, but the war is far from over.

Taking a line from Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones, AOPA President Phil Boyer said, "We have not yet begun to fight. Pilots around the world are incensed by Daley's wanton destruction of Meigs. We're going to use every guerilla tactic in the book to restore that airport. And if in the end that fails, at the very least we'll make Daley feel the pain."

Battle planning continued Wednesday afternoon as AOPA General Counsel John Yodice canceled a planned trip to Sun 'n Fun to continue strategizing with Boyer, who also canceled his planned trip to this major airshow. (Boyer instead will be traveling to Chicago Friday to keep the heat on Daley in the local media.)

Working into the evening, Boyer, Yodice, and AOPA attorney Ron Golden plotted the next salvo, while AOPA Senior Vice President Andy Cebula and Legislative Affairs Director Julia Krauss worked legislative strategy on Capitol Hill.

"There are more than 600 panel attorneys in the AOPA Legal Services Plan," said Yodice. "We'll ask them to be part of our 'brain trust' to develop new legal arguments."

AOPA sued in the past, and that kept Meigs open for an additional seven years. "The association is certainly prepared to sue again," said Yodice.

AOPA has already uncovered some legal options that could cost Chicago money and impact the city's other airports.

"Students of history may remember that John Paul Jones was outgunned and nearly sunk, yet he forced the British captain to tear down his colors and surrender," said Boyer. "Today's general aviation pilots are no less determined than those sailors."

 

[ifly4food]

Here it is in full:

AOPA unveils 12-point plan for Meigs
Members asked to help

Apr. 3 — Just three short days after Mayor Daley's sneak attack on Meigs Field airport, AOPA has developed a comprehensive plan to restore the airport. The 12-point plan combines legal, legislative, and public-relations tactics. The plan is designed not only to return aircraft to Meigs, but to also shield airports everywhere from Daley-like attacks.

"The plan includes both short- and longer term initiatives, so it won't be quick and it won't be easy," said AOPA President Phil Boyer, "but the nation's general aviation pilots want to ensure that Meigs will never happen again."
Immediate actions

* AOPA is filing an injunction to prevent further destruction of the airport.
* The association is filing a formal complaint with FAA regarding Daley's violation of federal regulations, specifically FAR Part 157 that requires at least a 30-day notice before closing an airport. Further, AOPA is demanding that FAA deny federal funding for Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports until Meigs is reopened.
* AOPA is filing a formal complaint with the Illinois Department of Transportation on Daley's violation of state regulations requiring approval for the "alteration of an existing airport."
* AOPA's 400,000 members (many of whom own or manage businesses or are influential in major organizations) are asked to boycott Chicago and to urge their trade, professional, and business associations to not hold meetings and conventions in the city. If traveling by airline, members should avoid flights landing in Chicago.

Short-term actions (within the week)

* AOPA Legislative Affairs will lobby Congress for federal legislation to reopen Meigs Field. Member support will be critical in this effort; when the time is right, AOPA will ask members to contact their congressional representatives.
* The AOPA Legal Services Plan's more than 600 panel attorneys will be pressed into service as a "brain bank" to help develop additional legal arguments. Environmental regulations, the rights of the owners of the stranded aircraft, the legal necessity for coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, and other state and local laws are being investigated.
* AOPA's general counsel will meet with the Department of Transportation's general counsel and the FAA's chief counsel to seek remedies through those entities.
* The association is offering assistance to any of the pilots whose planes were trapped at Meigs to pursue claims against the city of Chicago, if they or their attorneys request it.
* AOPA is placing full-page advertisements in the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times containing an open letter to the mayor and city residents explaining the outrage of Americas' pilots to Daley's unprecedented action.

Longer term actions

* AOPA will ask the Department of Homeland Security to issue an order prohibiting restrictions or closures of public airports on the basis of a security claim without its concurrence and a specific threat.
* AOPA will seek emergency legislation to allow the State of Illinois to purchase Meigs from Chicago.
* AOPA Legislative Affairs will oppose any attempt by the city of Chicago to use federal or state funds for the $27-million park that is slated to replace Meigs.

"We're going to show politicians around the nation that airports are important, and general aviation pilots will defend them," said Boyer.

03-2-019x

 

[dmspilot00]

AOPA epilot

This was in Today's AOPA ePilot (e-mail news):

THE MEIGS BATTLE CONTINUES
George Bullwinkel has been the AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer for Merrill C. Meigs Field (CGX) in Chicago since April 1999--in fact, he was one of the first ASN volunteers. Monday was a dark day for Bullwinkel as his beloved airport was destroyed. His most recent report on Meigs covers the reaction of the press and local citizens. "Both major papers are critical. All the columnists that I have seen so far are critical. The radio stations are running interviews with pro-Meigs people. The afternoon drive-time talk show that I heard today on WLS [ABC's AM radio outlet] was more than critical. Gary Meier and his sidekick absolutely excoriated the mayor, calling him a 'paranoid dictator' and a 'jerk.' Most of the callers were even more critical, with one calling the closing a 'straight-up gangster move.'"

Sounds like we have a lot of people on our side. BTW as I write this the second petition is up to 1,653. http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?meigs

 

[JetPilot500]

I too am sad to see this happen. Sign all of your petitions, do what ever you can, but......

MAYOR DALEY DOESN'T CARE!

He has had a boner about many years about Meigs. It has been a political bargaining tool for him. Daley (Democrat) was fighting the Republican governor about this for a number of years. Well now that we have a Democrat Governor and Democrat Mayor, Meigs is done!

Daley is the Mayor of Chicago for life. He just won a landslide election. And in 4 years the relatively few pilots who will vote will have a negligable affect. Meigs is/was convenient. But, people will still come to Chicago for whatever business they need to do and Daley knows that. Meigs was not a significant source of revenue for the city. But from Daleys view, a Casino or anything else on that prime property will potentially be a huge source of revenue for Chicago.

I don't support the closing of Meigs, but this is why it happened.

JetPilot500

 

[TDTURBO]

Some of you guys have it all wrong,

#1. The closing of Meigs has nothing to do with a "park". Daley wants to put a Casino gambling boat in its place, this has been known for years. The park thing is just to placate the public in the short term so he can pull another fast one.

Secondly, even a 4 year old knows Meigs presents no additonal security risk. Using that logic, the public would then have to believe that the Sears tower needs to come down as well as every skyscraper in the city because they put the public at risk being a terrorist target. Nobody buys the security risk bullsh!t, even people that hate airplanes. Daley has some serious back peddling to do on that one!

First and foremost, no pilot should fly this POS anywhere, if a pilot is caught doing otherwise, further career advancement should be eliminated. If one finds themselves in a "tight" spot flying either a 135 or 121 carrier, GET SICK. Don't risk the consequences of someone finding out you flew this f*ck anywhere. If all the professional pilots abide by this code, Daley will be forced to rethink his priorities.....think of it as a "blue flu" sudden ill syndrome condition.

The Cessna Pilots Association members are discussing ways to cause immediate and drastic effects to the other area airports, ORD and MDW. Organizing the 100+ pilots for the ensuing mayhem will be a challenge and is subject to revision.The plan is to file IFR or just go VFR, (No slot reservations required at ORD since last year), and fly 3 missed approaches to jam things up indefinitely only to proceed to an alternate. There are several other ways being discussed to make this dick cave to the pressure, either way he will be forced to rebuild Meigs as long as we make it impossible to conduct business as usual at the two remaining big airports.

Daley is toast!

We must all stick together and do our part.