CHBlog

Peotone Airport advocates, adversaries converge

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2012-04-23T20:56:32Z

Peotone Airport anti-airport rally participants--photo by D. Rodeghiero

Like an alcoholic, who can never touch the stuff again for fear of reawakening destructive tendencies that threaten inner peace, such is my addiction to the Peotone Airport debate. Compounded by obsessive leanings, I may never be free.

It doesn’t even matter that I no longer live in Illinois. It has been eight years since I’ve been gone, yet I remain deeply involved on a level that is apparently even beyond my own awareness. For the many years that I was active against the project, wounds remain unhealed. That was evidenced by the mere sight of this weekend’s diametrically opposed events that took place on eastern Will County soil.

On one side, there was a peaceful gathering of protestors who oppose the airport—a group that I have long associated with. Many of the individuals present were those I helped personally recruit to the airport opposition, long ago, when we were first learning about the proposed airport easily seen as a menace to the rural landscape. Worse yet, many of those good folks I had the privilege to know were not there. So many have died during the battle, just as surely as if they were Sioux Indians that died fighting to protect their land or soldiers at Gettysburg that fought for freedom that never made it off the battlefield. It is this part that haunts me the most. No one’s life should end sooner than expected because of unresolved peril in their lives at their own governments’ hand. Yet the State of Illinois persists in this unproven folly.

Just a short distance away, on land that isn’t even in the airport site, there was a gathering of people who support the airport—people from someplace else, who believe a new airport is a panacea—as a means to solve their own economic conditions. They give no thought to those who would be displaced. The people who live there are not discussed. The people believe what they are told, largely because they trust the one who tells them. I have no qualm with the people. I do have a problem with those who hold positions of power, who masquerade as leaders in the community, as they tell blatant lies and half truths because it will serve their own purpose. Such false idols never flinch about using innocent members of the public to ensure they get what they want.

This is becoming so common place; it is perpetuated throughout the government once billed as the government of the people, for the people, and by the people. The airport fight is just one small example of all that is wrong with the government and leadership today. I have seen this example for decades. They are a politician here, government worker there, or an investment banker, realtor, stockbroker, or union worker. The story is always the same. They tell their followers--this will help you. Except it won’t! Never do they tell the story of the other side—those freedom fighters who simply want to protect their way of life and livelihood.

Saturday, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., accompanied a group of south suburban pastors who support his version of airport obsession. I gathered as much of the news coverage as I could—including live videos of the event. Not only was I there in spirit, but I could have been there. It was déjà vu for me. Nothing changes. I’ve seen hundreds of similar events since my own opposition to this project was borne in 1987. The events may have a slightly different flair, but even many of the words are the same.

The group recited the Lord’s Prayer. Generally prayers over the land are generally for a good crop or sufficient rainfall. Yet the consequence of this prayer would result in the destruction of people’s lives and livelihoods. In the course of the closing prayer, the ministers and assembled crowd asked to be forgiven for their trespasses. Indeed, they would need to be forgiven because they wanted to trespass and covet their neighbor at the same time. Jackson audaciously urged people to stay off the cropland, in order to protect the farmer’s rights. As if he really cared about farmers’ rights.

I looked around at the faces of the people who were bussed to a local church in Monee, a church that I watched being built, I noticed the people. They didn’t fit. That isn’t because they were mostly African-Americans, yet that is true as well. But they are different because they are suburbanites. They dressed differently; the predominant clothing was not blue jeans. Some of the ladies wore hats. Rural folks don’t wear hats, except for cowboy hats, or perhaps baseball caps. Music played in the background, rather raucous Gospel music, a far cry from “The Old Rugged Cross,” which is the kind of hymn that is played in area churches.

I can almost guarantee that on the trip to Monee, one of more of the people asked, “Are we there yet?” At the same time, I’ll bet none of them connected the distance to the protest site with the same long distance it would be to travel to work everyday--that is if the airport were built, and successful, as Jackson fantasizes.

A friend of mine taught literacy to students in South Suburban Robbins. Her students told her they needed a job, but didn’t have a drivers’ license nor could they afford a car. For them, or countless others who can’t afford the gas to travel that distance, a job in Peotone is out of the question. Yet that is exactly who Jackson targets for airport jobs.

The distance is a real point. During my many years in the “airport fight,” I have known people who visited the Peotone area from Chicago. Many were reporters who found it difficult to file a story so far away because of the travel time taking away from writing a story or editing video. It is logistically difficult for Chicago news media to cover stories in the Peotone area.

The Peotone area is segregated from other populated areas, just like all rural areas. But the notion that their segregation translates into racism is a real stretch, one that is easily and often exploited. The culture of rural folks requires putting down deep roots into a community; often times they are roots that span generations. They pretty much know everyone in their area. Consequently, they are not very trusting of strangers. Being black has nothing to do with it. They don’t trust anyone they don’t know.

Exploiting such situations is a stretch that the Jacksons apparently love to make. Many believe that is what is behind this march to the cornfields. Identifying racism, whether it exists or not, makes headlines. That is what the Jacksons and many other black leaders seem to be about. Bringing attention to racism is good. Perpetuating for your own gain is not.

Building an airport that displaces farms and an entire farm economy will not solve the problems in the far reaches of the second congressional district, especially one that consists of one ribbon of concrete and a terminal building. Even if it were wildly successful, it wouldn’t produce enough jobs to solve the unemployment problem. And, it would do nothing to solve the other systemic ills that have long plagued the poorest communities in the south suburbs. Jackson has to know that.

The recent remapping of the second congressional district was purely political, designed strictly to benefit Jackson and his airport aspirations. He is taking full advantage, even though he has wrongly tried to pass the Peotone area off as within his district since he first took office.

Even if an airport were built near Peotone, it would do nothing to solve the problems in the south suburbs, only one of which is high unemployment. It is foolish to believe that economic development forty miles from the population base would help the situation there.

In fact, south suburban residents already have access to one of the world’s largest intermodal developments—where there are far more jobs than an airport with one runway and terminal building could ever create. The Centerpoint development is just 35 miles from downtown Harvey, just a few miles further than it would be to drive to Peotone. In addition, the Gary/Chicago Airport is only 20 minutes away, yet Congressman Jackson is apparently repelled by the invisible state line, since he refuses to look to that development as a potential jobs creator.

The bottom line is that there are plenty of jobs within a 40-mile radius of the south suburbs, yet Jackson is stuck on Peotone. Perhaps jobs aren’t really his agenda. And whatever his agenda is, the people of the Peotone area shouldn’t have to pay for it with their homes. And personally, I’d like to wake up from my own nightmare.

Copyright 2007. All rights Reserved. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in CHBlog and those of commentors are theirs alone. CHBlog is not responsible for the accuracy of information supplied by the commentors on this blog.

George Ochsenfeld responds to Algernon Penn

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2012-04-19T18:59:14Z

This is a guest post from George Ochsenfeld in response to Algernon Penn:

Dear Mr. Penn,

Thank you for your thoughtful letter concerning the proposed Peotone airport. Obviously you are deeply concerned about economic conditions in the south suburbs. So am I. Although you do not know me personally, I suspect we would agree on many issues related to social and economic justice, such as the negative impact of racism (whether institutional, structural, or personal/unconscious), and entrenched class oppression.

Mr. Penn, I understand your strong feelings on this issue. However, I think it is unfair to conflate me with the local unions in Will and Kankakee Counties. I agree with your critique of these unions, and I oppose them. I also oppose the Will County governmental officials, who are more concerned about donations and support from these construction unions than they are about residents of eastern Will County.

I especially think that it is unfair to equate me with enemies of Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement. I’ve been fighting the airport for 22 years, long before Congressman Jackson was elected. My opposition to the airport is, in part, the typical “not in my backyard” reaction: I don’t want to lose my home, or breathe jet fumes, hear loud noise, or have traffic congestion. Also, I oppose IDOT forcefully taking land before the FAA approves the project. But my strongest objection is on environmental grounds: aviation is a highly destructive form of transportation. The current industrial system is killing the planet and moving us toward economic collapse—and, as you know, it is traditionally oppressed groups who get hurt quickest and hardest when economies fail. Please read my recent essay (in the attachment) expressing my concerns about our dysfunctional economic system.

Hopefully, if the airport is not built, the state-owned land can be used to create urban agricultural jobs and businesses for the unemployed producing local, healthy food for the hungry, as is currently being done in Detroit http://detroitevolution.com/detroit-local-foods/ Milwaukee http://www.mkeurbanag.org/Main/AboutMUAN Chicago http://auachicago.org/ and elsewhere. I would gladly work with you, Mr. Penn or any others to this end. I wish I could come up with a remedy that provided high paying jobs to all, starting with those who have been locked out. But I can’t.

As far as people being upset about ministers coming out to pray for the airport, (and let’s not be disingenuous, that is what they are doing) it’s important to remember that from our perspective, the fruition of their prayers would mean the destruction of our homes, communities, and farms.

There is a fundamental premise about which you and I disagree. You believe a South Suburban Airport will create many permanent jobs. I do not. Please hear my arguments.

First of all, it is unlikely that the airport will ever be built, and if build, it would most likely be a white elephant (like MidAmerica near St. Louis), which would not produce jobs.

These are the reasons why: all major airlines said they would not use the South Suburban Airport and all major airlines have filed for bankruptcy; the state of Illinois would, as Congressman Jackson admitted on the House floor, be required to pay for surrounding infrastructure, and the state is broke; downstate legislators will object; no one knows what Michael Madigan is thinking—Midway is in his district—and he has enormous power; ALNAC’s developer, SNC Lavalin, was raided again last week by the police investigating corruption http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/canadian-police-force-executes-search-warrants-at-snc-lavalin-headquarters/2012/04/13/gIQA3AhRFT_print.html

—making it unlikely that Governor Quinn would be willing to turn the airport over to them; Congressman Jackson still faces House ethics charges and has been weakened by scandal, making it unlikely that the Governor will turn the project over to him; Will County government is fighting ALANAC for control; Rahm Emanuel recently said he opposes Peotone—the FAA requires regional consensus; O’Hare & Gary airport expansions will, according to the Tribune accommodate air traffic for decades; and independent aviation experts say that the South Suburban Airport is not needed.

For example, Michael Boyd, aviation consultant, recently garnered widespread media attention when he denounced the Peotone project as being an unneeded, politically driven boondoggle which would be a repeat of the barely used downstate MidAmerica airport, which he describes as a “monument to dishonest planning.” [Pantagraph, January 14, 2012]. http://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/critics-say-peotone-destined-to-be-illinois-second-midamerica/article_cfe8f058-3f1d-11e1-ac05-001871e3ce6c.html

Another expert, Daniel Rust, a commercial air travel expert and assistant director for Undergraduate Program Development at University of Missouri-St. Louis, said recently that there is not a need for new airports and that there is a high probability that Peotone would end up like the MidAmerica airport. http://thesouthern.com/news/local/flight-to-nowhere/article_14f5b5ca-3f3a-11e1-b595-0019bb2963f4.html

According to the January 14, 2012 article in the Pantagraph, http://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/critics-say-peotone-destined-to-be-illinois-second-midamerica/article_cfe8f058-3f1d-11e1-ac05-001871e3ce6c.html in the past five years there has been a 10 percent drop in the number of people flying in and out of the state’s nine main airports, American Airlines recently joined the rest of the major carriers in bankruptcy, and Southwest is reducing its flights.

IDOT pushed for the development of MidAmerica just as they are pushing for Peotone, because that agency benefits from large projects. They used the same consultants, TAMS (now Earthtech), to fudge the numbers for Peotone as they used for MidAmerica, i.e. more “dishonest planning.” The FAA simply goes along—they approved failed MidAmerica and Murtha airports. Their approval does not mean much in terms of whether a project will succeed.

There is no need for a cargo airport. D.C. Velocity, (September 8, 2009) an aviation trade journal, examined whether Peotone could compete with O’Hare on hauling cargo. They reported that O’Hare is adding 750,000 square feet of cargo space and 18 additional parking spaces for freighter aircraft. When they asked the vice president of air freight for North America for Deutsche Post DHL, the world’s largest freight carrier, if the region needed another cargo airport, he replied, “Not really.”

The ever-increasing price of jet fuel, concerns about global warming, and advances in telecommunication all make it likely that the days of continuous expansion of aviation are over.

I strongly urge you to re-examine your basic premises about the airport creating jobs. I will gladly meet with you to provide further documentation supporting my contention that the proposed South Suburban airport will not create jobs.

Oh, one more thing. Gandhi said, “First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they attack you. Then you win.” I guess only time will tell if that saying refers more to me or you.

Sincerely,

George Ochsenfeld

Copyright 2007. All rights Reserved. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in CHBlog and those of commentors are theirs alone. CHBlog is not responsible for the accuracy of information supplied by the commentors on this blog.

Airport opposition, not about race

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2012-04-19T16:44:49Z

Response to Algernon Penn, the Chairman of Friends of ALNAC, (Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission) the airport authority created by Jesse Jackson, Jr. Penn submitted his comment to my previous blog post Pro-Anti-Peotone Airport forces plan separate events.

Mr. Penn, with all due respect, your inference of racism—evidenced by the title of your response in this blog as “Battling economic segregation, the new movement for southland jobs--is blatantly innappropriate.

Further your categorization of people who want to protect their property from intrusion, as a tactic to segregate people, is way off the mark. Any narrow perceptions seem to be yours.

George Ochsenfeld and others have been fighting the State of Illinois’ efforts to build an unnecessary airport, that has no proven economic benefit, since the 1960’s, not just the last two decades. It has been only recently that Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. got involved. His decision to convert farmland--that was outside his own congressional district for the bulk of his term in congress—to benefit his constituents, is fairly new on the airport timeline. It is even more recent that Illinois Democrats redrew the map of the 2nd district to include the proposed Peotone footprint.

I take issue with your inference that George Ochsenfeld or anyone else associated with the opposition to the Peotone Airport has an ulterior motive related to racism. I’ve known George for years. He would have been the first person on that bus to give Rosa Parks his seat. So do not categorize him as someone who denies African-Americans, Latinos, and women the chance to support their families. Personally, I think you owe him an apology.

Why do you give no credence to airport jobs at the Gary/Chicago Airport which now enjoys airline services, or even the expanding Lansing Airport. Gary is closer to the south suburbs; Lansing is a south suburb. If jobs are all you are after, why would an imaginary state line make any difference?

Since you are so quick to point out that African American taxpayers have paid for state-owned land where the airport is proposed, are they also willing to spend the millions it would take to build roads, wells, sewers, and other airport accoutrements in eastern Will County that are needed to service a new airport? If it is built and airlines don’t use it, are African-American taxpayers willing to pay to keep it, even if it doesn’t provide jobs and economic benefit.

A viable farm community is far more important to the economy of the State of Illinois than a half-baked plan to build a runway in the middle of a cornfield.

Have you or Jackson considered studies that point to the benefit of growing local food in close proximity to a major city? Have you read about the high costs associated with urban sprawl? Have you studied the economic benefit of a healthy farming economy?

The reasons that a majority of residents of Will County, and eastern Will County in particular, oppose the proposed airport have nothing to do with race.

You want to create jobs? Why not build an agricultural school in the second district that can teach skills to urban area youth. Use the concept of: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.“

Teach the next generation how to feed an every-hungry world. Come up with a new and innovative idea that will fit into the existing agricultural community rather than simply trying to destroy it for your own gain.

This project has been on the drawing board for decades. Why do you think it never took off? Have you ever considered that it is a bad idea?

Pro, Anti-Peotone Airport forces plan separate events

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2012-04-16T19:34:24Z

Residents of eastern Will County at the site of the proposed Peotone Airport are planning a celebration of their rural life, agriculture, and Mother Earth on the day before the designated Earth Day, on April 21.

Their efforts will include a stop the airport rally and will include a parade.

Coincidentally, that just so happens to be the same day that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. is planning what local residents deem a "fake groundbreaking," on the site of what Jackson hopes will one day be the Abraham Lincoln National Airport.

While Jackson hopes, the residents plan to rally around the realty that eastern Will County is farm country. It has been rural in character since Illinois was settled. Their hopes are that the land which has sustained them for many generations will remain rural.

In addition, the folks in eastern Will County didn't cotton well to Jackson's recent comment that there was nothing in eastern Will County but tumbleweed. It is their hope Jackson will notice that they are not tumbleweed.

Joining Jackson, will be his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, some south suburban clergy, who have virtually no ties to eastern Will County, as well as other airport boosters who want to "occupy" Peotone.

"The Jackson entourage wants to 'pray for the destruction of our homes, communities, and farmland to make way for an unneeded airport,'" say the folks who already "occupy" Peotone.

While Jackson's purpose for his "ceremonial groundbreaking" for an airport that remains unapproved by the Federal Aviation Administration and has not been proven necessary by that agency, is trying to pressure Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to turn over state-owned land to Jackson's self-created airport authority, ALNAC, (Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission).

The residents hope to convince Quinn that Illinois citizens want to protect farmland and rural communities.

"We are opposed to wasting precious taxpayer dollars on this boondoggle when the State of Illinois is $131 billion in debt!"

Occupy Peotone, ceremonial groundbreaking; a real stretch

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2012-04-08T13:26:18Z

Jesse Jackson Senior has now joined his son to push for a new airport at Peotone.

Jackson is calling for an "Occupy" style protest in eastern Will County to bring attention to what he calls the "need for Peotone."

He will join his son Jesse Jackson, Jr. who has already planned a party of his own in the form of a "ceremonial groundbreaking."

Occupying and groundbreaking are hardly representative of this father and son's actions, as they continue their efforts to distort reality.

Occupy Peotone

Jackson simply cannot equate his son's push for a Peotone Airport with the grassroots movement designed to protest the greed on Wall Street, big banks foreclosing on people's homes, and corruption of big business and big government. It is inaccurate and it is insulting to the 99-percent of the American people who are represented by the Occupiers.

The Jacksons are on the wrong side.

It is the opponents of the Peotone Airport, which has endured since 1988 that more clearly represent the Occupy Movement. Since then and prior, officials in the state of Illinois have tried to bully landowners into selling their homes and farms to make way for a project that is supported by only a small, and dwindling few who hope to personally gain by it. Jackson is just the latest in a long line of them.

It is the opposition to the proposed airport, which includes the airline industry, that has protested the governments' inane action to take people's land and build a sprawling airport on some of the best farmland in the world. The people of eastern Will County have been subjected for decades to the uncertainty and stress in their lives, at the hand of the few who support this project.

Jackson's intentions are the the exact opposite of what the Occupy Movement stands for.

Ceremonial groundbreaking

Junior's groundbreaking is nothing more than a publicity stunt about a publicity stunt.

Generally a "groundbreaking" is held by a group of politicians and businessmen who gather around the area where a new business will be located. Their pretense of digging into the earth with golden shovels as they strike a pose for the camera is a symbolic gesture to advertise a business that will be located there.

Junior has called for a ceremonial groundbreaking on state-owned land Saturday, April 21. He will be joined by clergy members from several south suburban churches. It is highly unlikely that any of the congregants represented by these pastors actually reside in or around Peotone. It is also highly unlikely that any of the people belonging to the representative churches have ever been to Peotone or even know where it is located.

Junior's groundbreaking is inappropriate because there is no business. There may never be another airport built in eastern Will County. The decision has simply not been made, nor will it be for several years.

This is nothing more than a publicity stunt in an effort to persuade Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to turn over state-owned land to the airport authority Jackson has created--the Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission, (ALNAC)--which is made up of as many municipalities as Jackson can convince to sign on.

Perhaps the next headline will read, American Samoa becomes ALNAC member. It doesn't matter to Jackson where support originates, nor does it matter if support is in name only, as long as he can claim it. Some support comes from town councils in DuPage County; some is from Cook County. The closest towns to support the project are only partially located in Will County where the airport would be located if it was ever built. Since the support from a community measures only six or seven individuals, even that support is subjective and misleading. The men and women who sit on town councils have nothing to lose and everything to gain by supporting a congressman's cause, hoping for their own version of quid pro quo in the future. In Will County, however, most residents, who would live with and pay for an airport in their midst, have proven their opposition to it.

Lies being told about jobs

The elder Jackson has also joined his son in the lies that are being told about the proposed project for which no need has ever been established. Make no mistake, the only perceived need for the airport, is the one Jackson, Jr. and others before him who hoped to gain personally by it, are trying to manufacture.

According to a CBS Chicago story Saturday, "Jackson said the construction of the airport, which has been championed by his son, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. will bring an immediate 17,000 jobs to the area."

Jackson's claim is pure fiction.

As the years wear on, more people realize that any once-perceived need for the project slips further away as changes occur in the airline industry, economic realities such as higher gas prices, and a lack of disposable income combines with more frugal travel plans.

Jackson continually blurs the line about what is actually being proposed. When Jackson's wide-eyed reference to the potential jobs creator or the possible positive economic impact from an airport, he refers to a fully built 23,000-acre mega airport. Yet the more realistic proposed airport--the inaugural airport, one which would be redundant with so many other facilities around the Midwest, the reality is simply one simple ribbon of concrete and a terminal building. The potential of 17,000 jobs immediately is quite a stretch.

Sign here to stop the Peotone Airport!

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2012-03-27T11:40:11Z

Free Petition by iPetitions.com

Jesse Jackson Jr.'s groundbreaking, just smoke & mirrors

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2012-03-23T16:56:19Z

What's worse than Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s remarks about there being nothing in the Peotone Airport site but tumbleweed?

What's worse is Jackson's unfettered ego which knows no bounds. During the same interview where he insulted Peotone area landowners by ignoring their existence, and their wishes, he has now planned to turn Earth Day into a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for his beloved Peotone Airport project.

Just a reminder: the Peotone Airport is not yet approved!

Jackson's motives are as clear as his bulldozer mentality. Until the recent congressional district redistricting, Jackson had no jurisdiction over Peotone.

Shame on Illinois Democrats for setting this nightmarish scenario into motion. Growing the second congressional district into Will County and encompassing the Peotone Airport site finally gave Jackson and the south suburban mayors that stand behind him, just what they have always wanted--a clear pathway to the proposed airport. Jackson and his south suburban pals no longer have to finagle their way to the airport site.

Controlling the airport site is deja vu

Remember in the 1980's when University Park Planner Craig Hullinger proposed annexing Kedzie Avenue in order to 'reach' the airport footprint? Those efforts to strip annex the land to the site were halted by officials in the villages of Monee, Peotone, and Beecher when they figured out what was happening, stopping it before it did.

Jackson got the job done another way--by seeing to it that the airport site became a part of his congressional district. For years he acted as though it was a part of his district; at least now he no longer has to lie about that.

I guess this is what IDOT and its ilk talks about when they refer to all the progress the third airport has made. The finagling has moved all the way from a municipal planner to a congressman.

Jackson's groundbreaking

Now Jackson wants to hold a people's groundbreaking on April 21. Earth Day is actually April 22, but that day falls on a Sunday this year. Since many of Jackson's supporters are clergy members, they are otherwise occupied on Sunday, so he had to plan his party for Saturday.

Jackson's plan to turn a shovel full of dirt for the airport, is not unlike a similar ruse back in 2000. That was when jailed ex-Governor George Ryan arranged for the first purchase of land for the airport--even though the land was part of a then-stagnant upscale subdivision owned by a Ryan campaign donor and was located outside the airport site. It must be noted that Jackson has recently taken credit for this action. Interestingly though, the land that was sold was later deemed not part of the project and ordered to be sold.

The act of buying the first vacant lot at Heatherbrook Estates in Monee, however, was enough to create the smoke and mirrors effect to scare other landowners into thinking the state was really moving forward on the project. In reality, nothing had changed.

Jackson's symbolic groundbreaking is also smoke and mirrors. He hopes it will jump start this stagnant project.

There is no doubt that Jackson has learned from his past. Perhaps he is trying to emulate that which he learned about at his father's knee. Jackson has grown up watching and certainly hearing about the Civil Rights Movement, the marches his father participated in, and all the other events leading to one of the most landmarked changes this country has ever known. He has seen how the Occupy Wall Street crowd has gained momentum resulting in success for change. He is probably inspired by the way the Rev. Al Sharpton and others have helped focus national attention on the wrongful death of Trayvon Martin in Florida.

Jackson wants that kind of success for the airport of his dreams too. From time-to-time, he has marched small bands of supporters to Peotone to try to make his point. He's never had much success, but then I doubt he has much support because south suburban residents really lack the kind a passion for this project that would require success. They may pay it lip service for political reasons, but do they really think a runway 40 miles from their community will solve their economic woes?

Too bad Jackson hasn't bothered to channel his efforts in a better way. In this situation, he is simply on the wrong side.

Jackson has it backward

In the aforementioned movements, Jackson, Sharpton, and others have stood up for the little guy. They have been champions of a cause that sparked change because they were right to do so. Perhaps Junior is so quick to nurture his own ego that he never really realized that he is on the wrong side--the side of the bully--that guy who victimizes the little fella.

This issue is also a matter of civil rights. But in this case, the minority isn't one of color, but is certainly an issue of culture. The people of sparsely-populated eastern Will County, the farmers and small town dwellers are an endangered species in a development-at-all cost mentality. They are the minority. Someone needs to stand up for them.

The only result of Jackson's latest onslaught against the people of eastern Will County is to further the harm done to them for at least the past 25 years.

It is also backward that the people of Illinois will pay for this boondoggle. They are the same Illinois taxpayers that have been paying the bills since it was wrongly revived from the dead in the mid-1990's by former Gov. Jim Edgar. This airport has cost many, for the benefit of a few.

Isn't this the exact opposite of what economic development and public works project are supposed to achieve?

Peotone area residents seething over Jesse Jackson, Jr. insensitivities

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2012-03-22T19:24:15Z

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s election-night bravado included a statement during an interview that has the residents of eastern Will County seething.

During an interview following Jackson's victory in the Democratic primary challenge where he handily defeated ex-Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson, Jackson told WLS-TV reporter Paul Meincke that the site of the airport he wants to build currently contains nothing but tumbleweed?

Jackson knows better, since last fall he finally spent some time in eastern Will County meeting with some of the farmers there. Jackson is lucky that the cultural upbringing of these farmers caused them to be gracious, greeting him with polite respectfulness rather than the personal disdain some of them may have felt at the man who is personally trying to coerce them into selling their land for an airport they don't want. Treading softly, Jackson went about trying to schmooze them, as only he can. See the videos in this very blog.

George Ochsenfeld, the longtime organizer of the anti-airport group STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down) was not raised as a farmer and doesn't feel quite so polite toward Jackson, especially after Jackson's latest dismissal of those people who would be displaced by an airport that hasn't even been approved yet.

Ochsenfeld took issue with Jackson's insensitive and incorrect remarks and is now demanding an apology to the people of eastern Will County.

"Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., we are not tumbleweed, we are human beings!" Ochsenfeld wrote. "Our homes and community are dear to us. Our farmland is some of the finest in the world," he said.

Ochsenfeld also penned a letter to state legislators outlining what he considers to be unfair treatment of Peotone area residents by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).

On Wednesday, March 21, Ochsenfeld wrote that IDOT has begun using eminent domain to forecefully take property for the proposed South Suburban Airport near Peotone, even though the FAA is at least two to three years away from deciding if an airport can be built.

Further, Ochsenfeld wrote that IDOT is being "grossly unfair," largely because it contradicts a court finding in a similar situation concerning the City of Chicago's use of eminent domain during its expansion of O'Hare International Airport.

The City agreed to honor the courts' suggestion to wait for an FAA Record of Decision before using eminent domain.

"Why can't Peotone area residents get the same fair treatment afforded to O'Hare area residents?" he asked. "What is IDOT's hurry in taking land from citizens?" He pointed out that if the FAA decides the airport can be built, IDOT could acquire the land in a couple of months through a 'quick-take' eminent domain procedure.

"If the airport is never built, it will mean that almost $100 million of (borrowed) taxpayer money will be spent for nothing, with heart-breaking consequences for hard working farmers and residents," he said.

He asked that legislators use whatever means within their power to prevent IDOT from using eminent domain prior to the FAA reaching a Record of Decision on the Peotone project.

The following is the court finding to which Ochsenfeld referred--where the City of Chicago agreed to postpone land acquisition until after the FAA issued its Record of Decision on the project.

Village of Bensenville, Illinois, Village of Elk Grove, Illinois, et. al. vs. The City of Chicago, FAA, et.al. U.S. District Court For The Northern District Of Illinois, Eastern Division, No. 03 C 3726

In June 2003, the villages of Bensenville, Elk Grove, Rest Haven Cemetery and private citizens filed suit in federal court against the City of Chicago to block its land acquisitions through eminent domain and property demolition for the proposed expansion of O’Hare International Airport.

Plaintiffs argued in their Complaint that Chicago’s land acquisitions for O’Hare expansion and modernization would “result in serious harm to the their rights under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the landowners’ property rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and under NEPA.”

Plaintiffs argued that Chicago may not acquire and demolish homes and businesses… unless and until FAA has given approval to an Airport Layout Plan and airport Master Plan which first requires the FAA’s exhaustive compliance with numerous federal statutes, consultation with various federal agencies, and public hearings.

Pursuant to a Pretrial hearing, Judge Coar entered an Agreed Order on July 10, 2003 whereby the City of Chicago agreed that it would not acquire property in the villages of Bensenville and Elk Grove for purposes of its O’Hare Modernization Program “unless and until the FAA has issued a Record of Decision following completion of an EIS.”

As a result, the City of Chicago immediately ceased all attempts at land acquisition and refrained from any further demolition of properties it had acquired prior to the litigation. In the meantime, the FAA proceeded with its extensive review of mandated environmental, archaeological and national historic preservation studies as required by law, held public hearings on its review and issued its Draft EIS in January 2005 in favor of Chicago’s plan.

On September 30, 2005, the FAA gave its final approval (FEIS) of the O’Hare Modernization Program thus clearing the way for Chicago to commence land acquisition and construction.

That same day, expansion opponents Bensenville and Elk Grove Village appealed the FAA’s decision to a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. and obtained a stay of construction. They argued that the plan for expansion was not cost justified by either the City of Chicago or the FAA and that the expansion plan was too disruptive to area residents and businesses.

(On March 7, 2006 Bensenville trustees approved a 180-day moratorium on all demolition permits within a 125-acre zone included in the site approved by the FAA for O’Hare Airport expansion. The village cited traffic safety, hazardous material disposal and water runoff control concerns as reasons for the moratorium.)