UPDATE: In the comments
O'Hare Airport is the second busiest airport in the world and exists within the 41st Ward. It would be interesting to hear from the candidates about airport issues:1. The O'Hare Expansion Project: The project is about 50% completed/50% undone at this stage and finding the money to complete it has been very difficult. The major airlines who initially committed to partially financing the project have indicated that the current economic climate has hurt air travel and there may not be a need to expand after all. The two major airlines involved have filed a lawsuit because they want to halt financing plans for the projects they have not yet approved. The city wants to begin construction in time for the spring season.
The mayor wants to move forward with the expansion, and the city was positioned to sell about 1.2 billion dollars in airport bonds this week. Selling the bonds is on hold until the outcome of the airlines lawsuit is made. While airline approval is not needed for borrowing, the airline carriers are challenging the city’s ability to proceed with the construction of projects that would be financed with the bond proceeds. Every layer of gov't is involved including state legislators and the feds too. Will the next 41st Ward Alderman see his/her involvement in this project as important? And why?
- Should the O'Hare Expansion Project continue? And in what manner? It has been one of the largest construction projects in the country over the last few years and it is managed by the Chicago Department of Aviation (http://flychicago.com/).
- How will it be financed? The city is now trying to sell over 1 billion in airport bonds and plans to sell another 1.5 billion in the near future to pay for the next phase of the 6.6 billion dollar expansion project.
- How will continuing and/or not continuing the expansion project impact the communities in the 41st ward?
2. The Airport and the Environment
- The last Illinois EPA Air Monitoring assessment of communities surrounding the airport, was done in the year 2000, from what I could find; almost eleven years ago. Will the next alderman try to push the Illinois EPA to perform annual and on-going testing of the air, soil and water in and around our communities?
- What steps has the city and the ward taken to be involved in the "Airports Going Green" Program.
3. The Airport and Noise
- What on-going efforts has the city made on our behalf to monitor, mitigate and abate air travel noise within the 41st Ward?
Readers: What other airport questions should the aldermanic candidates be answering?
I would like to "hear" more about noise reduction
ReplyDeleteO’Hare Expansion To Proceed After Court Decision
ReplyDeleteJanuary 27, 2011 6:39 AM
St. Johannes Cemetery near O’Hare International Airport. (Credit: CBS)
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CHICAGO (CBS) – An Illinois Supreme Court decision clears the way for the City of Chicago to move ahead with the O’Hare expansion project.
The Supreme Court refused to review a lower court decision allowing the city to move about 1,000 graves from St. Johannes Cemetery in Bensenville, which is in the path of a new runway.
St. John’s United Church of Christ, which operates the 6.3-acre cemetery, argued that it would be too painful for families with loved ones buried there.
The city is working with the families to relocate the gravesites.
Late last year, the City Council approved a plan to issue $1 billion in bonds for the O’Hare expansion project. Last week, reports surfaced that Moody’s had downgraded some of the bonds, because the city has been unable to get financial support from the airlines.
The O’Hare Modernization Program calls for building one new runway, extending another runway and relocating a third. A new northern runway opened in November 2008.
In addition to the relocation of the cemetery, about 500 former homes and businesses in Bensenville are being demolished to make way for the expanded airport.
Overall, the $15 billion expansion project is less than halfway done.
(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc
I don't think the average tax payer realizes what a critical issue the airport expansion project is. Air lines have taken a serious financial hit in this economy and they are telling the city, no need to expand, it will be a waste of money. 15 billion dollars is alot of money. Air travel is down and the cost of tickets is more expensive. The future most likely will be high speed rail, yes, back to the trains that are easier to maintain and emit less toxins into the environment. Why hasn't the city considered a revised scaled down expansion? Contracts and money to connected people would be my guess.
ReplyDeleteWow, the airport expansion project is one of the largest construction projects in the country? How many 41st ward tradesmen are employed at the O'Hare Expansion Project? Were any jobs set aside for 41st ward residents?
ReplyDeletewith the new expansion going ahead in the Spring, how many new jobs will be given to the 41st Ward residents?
ReplyDeleteJobs, Jobs, Jobs
will city contractors get the business at the air port expansion project or will the work go to suburban and collar couny contractors?
ReplyDeleteIs there anything in writing about airport expansion jobs going to city residents? Good question for the candidates.
ReplyDeleteDaley to meet with United, American on O'Hare expansion
ReplyDelete.(Crain's) — A pivotal meeting on the future of O’Hare International Airport is set for Thursday.
Mayor Richard M. Daley said Monday that he’ll meet with representatives of United Airlines and American Airlines to discuss their opposition to completing the airport’s expansion until traffic recovers, according to reports.
Last week, the CEOs of both airlines met with U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, who urged them to resume talks with Chicago officials in an attempt to resolve the lawsuit they filed to block the city from continuing O’Hare construction without their approval.
"I’ll be glad to sit with them and listen to their new proposals,” the mayor said at a press conference, according to the Chicago Tribune. “They (the proposals) have to come up because, when you listen to them last time, they wanted to stop construction until 2019.”
The airlines want to delay construction of new runways until traffic reaches a certain level, which could happen sooner if traffic grows faster than the FAA currently forecasts.
Mr. Durbin said at the appearance with the mayor that there’s a potential compromise in the airlines’ proposal to tie construction to certain operational levels.
“But when we went into the specifics in some of the triggers, it raised questions in my mind as to whether they are realistic, because I think some of them would wait until the delays are just intolerable and then say, ‘Now let’s build,’ ” Mr. Durbin said. “You’ve got to be ahead of the curve.”
The airlines have agreed to let construction of two taxiways proceed but not the rest of the completion phase. Historically, the airlines have had the final say on new construction because their contract with the city allows them to veto projects that would add to airport costs, which they ultimately pay in higher landing fees, if necessary.
In mid-January, the city planned to get around that obstacle by issuing bonds that delayed payment of interest and principal until after their contract expires in 2018. That bond sale was put on hold after the airlines sued the city.
Hearings on the airlines’ request for a preliminary injunction to stop the O’Hare completion project are not scheduled until Feb. 22 and 23.
The mayor made clear he’s looking for something to negotiate with the airlines at Thursday’s meeting.
“I will sit down with them, but they have to put something new on the table,” Mr. Daley said.
However, he’s leery of triggers because United and American, which control about 75% of the traffic at O’Hare, can partly determine its rate of growth. “If they decide to leave a couple airplanes out there and direct ’em someplace else, we don’t have the growth of passengers” required to justify new runways, Mr. Daley said, according to reports.
“We know passengers are gonna grow and grow very rapidly,” the mayor added. “This airport is built—not only for today, but the future. And the future requires us to build.”
Airlines stalling on meeting over O’Hare expansion, Daley says
ReplyDeleteBY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporterfspielman@suntimes.com Feb 3, 2011 05:47PM
ShareE-MailPrintMayor Daley chided United and American Airlines on Thursday for canceling — and not rushing to re-schedule — a meeting called to resolve their legal differences with the city over O’Hare Airport expansion.
Daley said he considered it so important to strike a compromise with airlines now suing the city that he was willing to break his long-standing rule of taking Sundays off for family.
“We had a meeting scheduled for [Thursday] and the airlines cancelled it. I said, ‘How ’bout Friday?’ They said no. How `bout Saturday? They said no. I was making an exception on Sunday. I was gonna meet with them this Sunday. And they said, `No. It’s Super Bowl [Sunday].’ And I said, ‘No kidding,’ ’’ Daley said.
“Monday they said no. Tuesday they said no and Wednesday they said no. Thursday and Friday, I’ll be out of town. I’ll be back Saturday. They said no. I made another exception — the only time I’ve ever made an exception in 22 years. How ’bout [next] Sunday. And they said no.”
Daley said the meeting has now been tentatively scheduled for Feb. 15. But he can’t help but wonder why airline officials are willing to wait so long “if it’s such an emergency.”
“They went to Sen. [Dick] Durbin and Sen. [Mark] Kirk and said, ‘This is an emergency. We want to meet the mayor.’ I said, fine. Now, there’s no such emergency,” Daley said.
“I just wonder if they’re waiting for a certain date in February’’ — mayoral Election Day is Feb. 22 — and “saying, ‘Maybe the mayor won’t be around,’ ’’ Daley said. “But I’ll be around until May 16” — when his final term in office ends.
American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan countered, “The reason we didn’t have the meeting is because of bad weather and its effect on our schedule.”
Last month, United and American filed an unprecedented lawsuit challenging the city’s right to forge ahead with the final phase of Daley’s massive runway expansion project without the approval of airlines saddled with nearly 60 percent of the cost.
They argued that the debt required would make O’Hare “among the highest-cost airports in the country,” burdening them “with costs we simply cannot afford to pay for a project we do not need and will not need for many years.” They further argued that the increases would “restrict our ability to grow and expand air service into and out of Chicago.”
Earlier this week, Daley agreed to try to hammer out a compromise, but only if United and American “put something new on the table.”
The mayor accused them of trying to “stop construction until 2019,” a charge the airlines denied.
“We want a Phase Two that is fiscally-responsible and based on operational triggers. ... It’s not calendar-driven. It’s demand-driven,” a source close to the airlines said.
Durbin (D-Ill.) said he came away from his own meeting with United and American last week convinced there is “plenty of room for a compromise.
“It is reasonable to say that the further expansion of O’Hare should be tied to the expansion of service. But, some of the triggers raised questions in my mind as to whether they’re realistic because some of them would wait until the delays are just intolerable, then say, ‘Now, let’s build,’ ’’ Durbin said earlier this week.
chicagotribune.com
ReplyDeleteJudge approves delay in O'Hare expansion suit
By Jon Hilkevitch
Tribune reporter
2:46 PM CST, February 10, 2011
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A Cook County judge today approved a five-day delay in hearing the lawsuit that United and American airlines have filed to stop the city of Chicago from borrowing about $1 billion for the expansion of O'Hare International Airport.
The trial delay was requested by the U.S. Department of Transportation and mutually agreed to by the city and the airlines, officials said.
Coming a day after Mayor Richard Daley met with the chief executive officers at United and American under the mediation of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the trial postponement is intended to give both sides time to negotiate a settlement, officials said.
The airlines sued Chicago last month, contending the city violated the carriers' lease agreement at O'Hare by moving toward selling $1 billion in bonds without receiving the required airline approval. City attorneys maintain airline approval is not required in this case.
Cook County Circuit Judge Richard Billik scheduled a hearing for March 1 and 2 on the airlines' request for a preliminary injunction to stop the bond sale.
jhilkevitch@tribune.com