Editorial
The high cost of hubris
Published July 5, 2006
More than three years after Mayor Richard Daley ordered a
late-night hit on Meigs Field, the cost of his venture continues to rise.
Chicago has paid more than $500,000 in legal fees to battle
the Federal Aviation Administration over the March 2003 closing of the airport
at Northerly Island, according to figures provided by the city.
The city is challenging a $33,000 fine for shutting down Meigs
without giving the FAA a required 30-day notice. And lawyers on the city's clock
are preparing to fight the FAA on another front: The agency is investigating
whether Chicago improperly used $2.9 million in airport development funds to
close Meigs. The FAA could fine the city up to $8.7 million if it finds the
development funds were misused.
Bottom line: The mayor's surprise decision to bulldoze the
airport's runway while most people were asleep already has cost the city
millions of dollars, and the tab could top $10 million.
The mayor told only a handful of people about his decision to
close Meigs before sending a demolition crew to carve six giant X marks on the
runway. Daley said he ordered the airport closed because terrorists could use it
to launch a small plane attack on downtown. Few people bought that explanation.
The city eventually prevailed against lawsuits that sought to
keep Meigs open. But the city's battles with the FAA have continued.
The FAA says the city violated its regulations by closing the
airport without sufficient notice; the city counters that FAA regulations say it
can close an airport for security reasons. The city fears that if it concedes to
the FAA on the notice issue, it will have a weaker case on the question of the
use of airport funds. A fine in one case can be considered in other enforcement
proceedings against the city. We don't know if the FAA or the city will prevail.
We do know that the taxpayers' costs for the midnight raid on Meigs Field keep
rising, thanks to a mayor's belief that he can do whatever he wants.
