CHBlog

Eminent domain at Peotone

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-07-02T14:16:00Z

Will Township Highway Commissioner Bruce Hamman and STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down) President George Ochsenfeld who is also a Green Candidate for State Rep. in the 79th District express their views of the state's actions to tear down another livable home. Click on the photo to read the story below.

Illinois officials wrong to force eminent domain at Peotone

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-07-02T14:10:46Z

I don't care how you slice it—government trying to seize people's property for their own amusement is just plain wrong.

Yet that is just what is happening in Illinois, about 40 miles south of the City of Chicago as the Illinois Department of Transportation continues the folly of advocating for a new airport near Peotone.

Illinois officials are shameless as they try to coerce people out of their homes and property. It seems they especially like to target the elderly, going after those whose will has been worn down through the continuous struggles of everyday life during the past sixty, seventy, and eighty years. Aren't these the very people state officials should be fighting for rather than against?

Illinois Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Director Susan Shea is the state's mouthpiece who continues to rave about the benefits of a new airport; its need has never been proven. This is despite the efforts of five different state administrations at the helm—Governors Thompson, Edgar, Ryan, Blagojevich, and now Quinn. All of them have used their lieutenants to sell the project to the public, to the airlines, and to the Federal Aviation Administration. None of those crucial agencies or people have bought into the state's rosy information.

Eminent domain should be used for real projects

For Shea to threaten to use eminent domain to take people's property, for a project that hasn't even been approved by the federal government, seems almost criminal.

Susan Shea should be fired for bragging to newspapers about how this is a great time to go after property since the real estate market has been depressed and property values are lower.

Isn't the government supposed to work for the people, not for the whim of government authoritarians? The country and the state are struggling financially so it should invest wisely, but at the expense of shaking down the taxpaying public? The state is trying to usurp its power in every way it can to muscle people out of their property.

Hedging their bets

One of the state's ploys is to destroy neighborhoods. They have been doing it methodically since they demolished the first home in 2001. Perfectly good dwellings on beautiful land are being decimated for no good reason other than to further depress the property values. I wonder what one of Illinois' struggling homeless families would think if they saw the giant steel jaws rip into a perfectly livable home, turning it into a pile of rubble.

Anyone who lives in the State of Illinois should clamor for an end to the state's folly and the terrorist tactics to the people who live there.

Wouldn't the state be better served to rent properties rather than destroying them? And as the homes are leveled, the neighborhood continues to lose value, which plays into the state's hands as well.

The only benefit to actually building an airport would be to finally wipe it off the books with a check mark under 'look what we can do!' Wouldn't a bottle of white-out be more prudent?

Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been spent to try to sell this idea, not to mention the gazillion man-hours using highly-paid political operatives, consultants, lawyers, planners, map-makers, and so much more dating back to 1987. All this is for a little runway among the cornfields in eastern Will County—despite the same thing that already exists and is underserved at Gary and Milwaukee airports. I would think there are better ways for Illinois officials to spend the people's money.

The road to Peotone along a path of corruption

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-06-07T18:00:00Z

State of Illinois officials are enthusiastic about building the Illiana Expressway.

It is often referred as the road to Peotone, the ill-fated 1968-to-present proposal to build a new airport south of Chicago, and with good reason. At one time, the State of Illinois, Department of Transportation identified the road, now called the Illiana Expressway, as the northernmost access road to the Peotone Airport. Though it was considered by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority as the southernmost leg of Interstate 355, that portion was considered to be part of the airport project.

After watching several Illinois legislatures and governors botch the decision-making process favors its corrupt pay-to-play system during the 1980's and '90's, the Illiana project may come to fruition. If it does, of the three proposed routes, I predict the one chosen will ultimately mirror the one drawn onto maps of the South Suburban Airport (SSA) decades ago.

For the record, I dislike calling the project the South Suburban Airport. Its location is rural, far from the south suburbs. The name falsely paints a picture of prosperity for some of the most beleaguered towns in Illinois. To believe that a one-runway and terminal building 40 miles south of Chicago will benefit or even affect the south suburbs is akin to believing in the tooth fairy.

I believe the airport is dead and never had a chance of success, and that the Illiana Expressway is the state's fall-back position. Supporters of concrete and asphalt who thrive on decimating farm fields and small towns can probably learn to be content with a ribbon of pavement rather than the huge paved square they had hoped for. After all, politics is the art of compromise.

That doesn't mean they won't continue to try. The Peotone Airport is written into every report and drawn on every map at the local, state, and federal levels. Government can be diligent when it comes to rubber stamping their desires onto as many documents as they can create. The Peotone proposition is as prolific as the writing on bathroom walls. For anyone who thinks the state has gone on to other things, they may be surprised to learn that it still dominates the development-at-all-cost discussions in planning meetings, board rooms, and on legislative agendas. Illinois Department of Transportation officials are always looking for new ways to try to sell their pet project. That is difficult when the project has been around as long as Ziploc bags and Pringles potato chips.

For some odd reason, the politicos in Illinois refuse to let go of this dinosaur. Perhaps their habitual hanging on has gone on so long that they just don't know how to let go, despite numerous opportunities to do the right thing; walk away from the project. There have been ways to heroically turn toward other things—tend to more necessary projects—and at the same time, keep their politics in-tact. But they have refused to do it.

The players have seemingly changed over the many years, but the difference is indiscernible. A governor here, a congressman there; they are all cut from the same expensive cloth borne out of a culture of greed and corruption.

My biggest disappointment is that the power really does lie with the people who have the ability to cut them off at the voting booth. Yet, too few have bothered to get involved, educate themselves, and/or make the connection to what is wrong and who is making decisions.

One of those who did bother to get involved was John Walliser, a homebuilder from Lockport Township. He was one of the victims of the state's desire to build Interstate 355 who saw his house demolished despite the fact that it never was in the path of the tollway. He was largely responsible for the 1996 court order that halted construction of the road builders until the state complied with federal law.

In the following file, Walliser details the story of I-355 and the state's corrupt officials. He names names of the government officials involved in the state's endemic corruption, with a focus on Sen. Roland Burris, as Illinois Attorney General. Walliser shows that Burris manipulated the state's culture of pay-to-play corruption for his own benefit.

Walliser discusses the laws that were meant to safeguard the public but don't. Entitled The Long and Winding Road to Peotone, Walliser connects the I-355 debacle to the state's wrongful attempts to acquire property for an airport that is neither approved nor imminent. His compelling arguments cannot be ignored.

Illiana Expressway gets another green light

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-05-11T15:41:00Z

by Carol Henrichs

The Illiana Expressway has been given the go-ahead—first in Indiana—and now in Illinois. Legislation that would allow the project to move forward through a public-private partnership awaits the governor's signature. That act will simply be a formality since Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn considers the project to be his future legacy.

What a disappointment Pat Quinn has been to so many who had hoped his fight-for-the-little-guy attitude could transform the governor's mansion, still lingering from the ill repute of its former occupants.

Instead, Quinn has embraced previous administration's tactics in his clamor for votes to keep him in the style to which he has become accustomed. Politics as usual is deeply entrenched in the Land of Lincoln.

The Illiana Expressway has been just another politically-motivated bad joke perpetrated on the people of Illinois who have had to pay for it.

It is a smokescreen for the South Suburban Airport/Peotone Airport as pointed out in an insightful column by Guy Tridgell in the May 11, 2010 Southtown Star. Tridgell called the Illiana "our very own Tobacco Road," referencing the 1932 novel by Erskine Caldwell that ends with the tragic death of the main characters.

"The airport has become the crazy aunt of Illinois who's permanently locked up in the attic. She is dying a slow, quiet death," Tridgell wrote.

He concluded, "They don't want to tell the constituents that they have failed, so they have created a new project as a diversion with the hope everyone stays quiet. The Illiana Expressway - the perfect smoke screen."

Tridgell is correct. The Illiana—once a part of the far-reaching, far-fetched 23,000-acre airport project—may be all that is left of Illinois' once grandiose plans.

But while Illinois officials and airport boosters hope the Illiana becomes the yellow-brick road to their avionic version of Oz, they may find that by using the same tactics, same tired arguments, and attempts at factual manipulation, the road may suffer the same fate as the airport.

The game changer, however, may be something Illinois officials rarely think about; it is the one thing that has surprised them in the past—Indiana.

At the same time that Illinois officials are crowing about their passed-too-quickly legislation to build the Illiana Expressway, Indiana officials look at the Illiana as a real tool for economic development and job creation.

Indiana's version of Oz also has an airport—the Gary/Chicago International Airport—that is real, viable, and a potential money-maker rather than the black hole for money that has been the Peotone Airport project. An Illiana Expressway could be a benefit to the transportation network in place in Indiana. Instead of the tar and chip roads that traverse the area where Illinois wants to bring millions of passengers per year, pavement leads to Indiana's airport. The Illiana could be an enhancement.

The Illiana could bring additional access to the Gary/Chicago airport.

Tridgell also called attention to the fact that neither state owns land for the project, nor has an exact location even been identified. Additional studies are needed. It could be decades before a spade of dirt is turned.

Given the amount of time devoted to the Peotone Airport, and the lack of will to make sweeping changes in the way Illinois does its business, there is little doubt that Illinois politicians and their employees will still be hawking the Illiana Expressway in the year 2040 and beyond.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s irony

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-05-05T15:14:00Z

It is indeed ironic that Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. would complain about ex-governor Rod Blagojevich "wheeling and dealing."

Note the following from an April 15 column in the Southtown Star, "Jesse Jr. re-emerges in Blagojevich case." by Kristen McQueary.

Months after Blagojevich's December 2008 arrest, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd), of Chicago, told me it was impossible to interact with Blagojevich without "him wheeling and dealing and trying to extract something out of you."

Blagojevich reportedly told Jackson early on that he didn't hire his wife, Sandi, as lottery director because her application wasn't accompanied by a $25,000 campaign donation. Jackson said he turned to federal prosecutors for help when private developers willing to build a south suburban airport experienced Blagojevich's extortion.

"I have worked with four governors," Jackson said back then. "It wasn't until I came into contact with the Blagojevich administration that they sought to shake down the developers. (Blagojevich's) behavior was so unacceptable to me that I took that information to the U.S. attorney because how can we build our state if every time someone wants to invest and create jobs, they have to go through a political gauntlet of 'gimme, gimme, gimme?' "

"Jackson's interpretation was ironic considering that he emerges, again, in the government documents released Wednesday," McQueary said.

Ironic indeed, but let's take that one step farther. The irony is that Jackson complained about Blagojevich doing what he himself has been doing for years. His entire motive for building a new airport near Peotone was about gimme, gimme, gimme.

Jackson is all about control of contracts, concessions, votes, and whatever else might be beyond my imagination.

Many suspect that Jackson got his nose out of joint because Blagojevich didn't satisfy his needs. His wife didn't get the political job he wanted for her—heading the state lottery—and he didn't he get approval for his pet project. So he complained to the authorities.

Both Jackson and Blagojevich are poster children for what is wrong in Illinois politics.

But, if you ask me, Blagojevich shaking down fat cats is far less bothersome than Jackson trying to feather his own nest off the backs of innocent people.

Jackson has misrepresented the truth to his own colleagues to make Peotone look viable, manipulated facts by making people think a runway will solve economic woes in his district, and tried his own version of shaking down four governors, with the promise to deliver votes.

Eminent domain for Peotone Airport must be halted

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-04-23T13:30:00Z

The Illinois Green Party has aligned with the anti-airport group STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down) as they call for the state to halt spending on land in eastern Will County. They say the state's plan, to use eminent domain to take two parcels totaling 500 acres, is simply not justified.

At the same time that Gov. Pat talks about controlling spending, he continues to support squandering $105 million to condemn family farms at the site of the proposed Peotone airport in the far southern reaches of the Chicago Metropolitan Area.

The reality is that the state is $13 billion in debt.

George Ochsenfeld, president of STAND, who is also running as a Green Party candidate for State Representative in the 79th district, expressed outrage that Quinn's land purchases are going forward despite the fact that the FAA is at least two years from making a decision whether or not to authorize the project. He says spending millions to purchase land at this time is a gamble. According to the state's official website, IDOT recently spent $2.2 million to purchase a 160-acre property. Their pending 500-acre purchases will likely cost millions more.

"Buying the land now may bring political benefits for the airport's sponsors, and there may be some short-term financial benefits for contractors and developers," said Ochsenfeld, "but this airport is going to be a hard sell for travelers, and it has already done significant damage to long-time residents of the region."

Two eminent domain cases are pending for a 300-acre parcel and a 200-acre parcel. The cases will be heard in the Will County Circuit Court in Joliet.

STAND contends that eminent domain should be halted until five criteria are met:

Funding (either private, public, or some combination of the two) is secured

The FAA issues a final record of decision for airport construction for the project and is made public

Funding for necessary surrounding infrastructure is secured

A panel of independent transportation experts is convened to determine whether there is a need for the project

A major airline has committed to using the facility

Jobs Outlook Questionable

State officials continue to make the claim that jobs are the impetus behind the airport, yet there is little evidence to suggest that the number of jobs they predict will ever materialize. The state continues to make bloated claims of job-creation. Using old data and outdated jobs forecasts for an expanded 22,000-acre project during a robust economy and healthy aviation industry, state officials continue to blur the line between aviation reality and the fantasy that a new airport will bring economic prosperity to some of the poorest regions of the state.

"The airport plan has been marketed by its proponents as a jobs program, but it's doubtful that the jobs will ever come," says Scott Summers, Green Party candidate for Illinois Treasurer. "Today, the State of Illinois is spending $3 for every $2 it takes in. We're basically broke, and yet the governor is gambling on a project that does not have local support, federal approval or any commitments from the industry that is supposedly going to be using it.

"Illinois has many examples of unnecessary and under-utilized infrastructure, from the MidAmerica Airport near St. Louis to the Thomson prison. We ought to know by now that building unnecessary infrastructure means the jobs may never materialize as promised," continued Summers. "This airport promises to be yet another long-term financial burden on the taxpayers."

"The state does not have financing to build the airport or for necessary surrounding infrastructure," said Ochsenfeld. "Not only that, the airline industry is against the project, O'Hare is being expanded, the Gary airport is being expanded, the airlines are in disaster mode, with O'Hare having the lowest number of flights in 15 years."

"We have more than 30 resolutions and referendums from surrounding villages, townships, other units of government, and from citizens' groups against the project," Ochsenfeld said. That doesn't include the thousands of signatures on petitions that have been delivered to the state through the dozens of years this project has been stuck in perpetual planning mode.

Sustainability is an issue

The State of Illinois plans to acquire a total of 22,000 acres (34 square miles) of mostly prime farmland, much of which is owned by 4th- and 5th-generation local farmers. "This is a crime against future generations, who will need productive soil," said Bob Mueller, a Will County native and candidate for State Representative, in DuPage County's 47th district.

"Rural Will County is rapidly disappearing, and with it will go, not just a way-of-life, but the self-sustainability of the region. Yet for many politicians involved, it may take a major food or energy crisis before they realize the folly in paving over highly productive farmland."

Gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney, a long-time opponent of the Peotone airport project, said: "We as a society need to be moving toward more energy-efficient and less-polluting and potentially non-polluting modes of transportation, like high-speed rail, not promoting more of the same wasteful modes of transportation that have created the crisis.

"The Peotone Airport is a horribly misguided investment of public capital, that may enrich a few speculators and politicians but will likely end up being a white elephant -- with taxpayers left to cover the inevitable losses and all of us paying for the consequences of unsustainable modes of transportation."

University Park bad behavior

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-04-10T16:16:00Z

I do not condone writing mills, those quantity vs. quality online writing sites that pepper the internet with works of well-intentioned writers who are paid far too little for their efforts. My criticism is of the sites, much more than of the writers.

In some cases, the content is worth far more than what the writer ever receives in compensation.

Such was the case in a recent article by Peter Bella, for Examiner.com.

Entitled "University Park or Gorky Park?", Bella discusses the behavior of a village official in University Park, a south suburb of Chicago. This story is worth noting, because it was not the subject of Chicago's mainstream media.

Congressional candidate Isaac Hayes, R-Park Forest, a congressional candidate who is mounting a challenge against U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Chicago was invited to a private networking event in his neighboring town of University Park, according to Bella. The April 7 event was hosted by Jennifer Day of Daylight Media, Bella explained.

He went on to describe how University Park Village President Al McCowan threw him out of the event because he was a Republican.

McCowan is a well-known supporter of Jackson, who was not at the event.

"About one hour into the event, Hayes was angrily asked to leave the event immediately by University Park Mayor Alvin McCowan," Bella wrote. "The mayor then brought the hostess to tears with a tirade about inviting a Republican to the event. It should be noted also that many of Mr. Hayes staff members are White and were treated in a bigoted manner (sic) my the mayor and his staff." Both McCowan and Hayes are black.

“I guess this Mayor doesn’t believe his community has a right to decide for themselves, considering Rainbow Push’s material was placed in full sight and not taken down”, said a Hayes spokesman, according to a Hayes Press Release. “If Jesse Jackson Jr. had a sponsored table here tonight it would be business as usual”.

Bella concluded, "Alvin McCowan is disgusting, despicable, deplorable, and detestable. Evidently he thinks he can just do what he wants, when he wants, and get away with it. He is right too. No one in the local Chicago media have covered this so far. There has been no condemnation, no editorials, nothing.

University Park is a little bit of the old Soviet Union right here in our own backyard."

Appellate Court reverses Belle Meade Ruling

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-04-09T19:14:00Z

In May 2009, owners of the Belle Meade development in Green Garden filed a petition in Will County Circuit Court to annex not only their own property into the Village of Monee, but to forcibly annex the private landowners who lived between the village and the development. In July 2009, a Will County judge ruled in the developers’ favor, ostensibly permitting the forced annexation to proceed. On April 7, 2010, the appellate court reversed the Will County judge, holding that the annexation petition was insufficient because it was not signed by a majority of registered voters in the annexation footprint, as required by state law.

Will County Board Member John Anderson, who is also running for Circuit Judge, hailed the appellate court ruling as a victory for residents of Monee, Peotone, and Green Garden Township. “Having lived in Monee for many years, I know that Monee is a great place to live and raise a family. However, this forced annexation would have dealt a devastating blow to all three communities,” Anderson says. “For Monee, the cost of extending services west to 88^th Avenue would by a substantial tax burden to Monee residents. And, adding over 400 new lots or houses to an already over-supplied housing market would harm existing property values in Monee,” he explained. Anderson also noted that Belle Meade would constitute a substantial burden on the Peotone School District, which encompasses both Peotone and Green Garden Townships. “We are talking about well over 400 proposed homes in Belle Meade alone, not including the property in between the village and the proposed development,” Anderson explained. “The Peotone school district is already struggling financially, and this would bend it well beyond the breaking point. When schools struggle, the community struggles too—this is just a bad deal for everyone.”

Anderson also stated that the ruling represents a victory for land rights across the State of Illinois. The Joliet attorney representing the landowners in the proposed forced annexation footprint, Cory Lund of Tracy Johnson & Wilson, agreed. “The ruling of the Appellate Court in favor of individuals and against big developers sustains the concept of our fundamental property rights, while still maintaining the notion of majority rule,” Lund declared. “Here, a majority was required, and the developer could not contrive one with suspect maneuvers.”

Anderson cautioned, though, that the Belle Meade development is not dead yet. “These developers made a bad business deal, and now they want a bail-out on the backs of Monee, Peotone, and Green Garden taxpayers. They are not going to give up,” he speculated. To effectuate a forced annexation under state law, the developers must gain the support of a majority of the land owners and a majority of the registered voters in the annexation footprint. Thus, the developers could seek to fill existing homes in the annexation footprint with renters who would be willing to sign a new annexation petition. Or, they could seek to subdivide their existing parcels to increase the number of land owners. Still, Anderson concluded, “this is a good victory for everyone in Monee, Peotone and Green Garden.”

The Village of Monee had scheduled a public hearing on the Belle Meade development for April 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Monee Elementary School, located at 25425 S. Will-Center Road in Monee. It is currently unclear whether that meeting will take place in light of the appellate court’s ruling. Interested persons can contact the Village of Monee at 708-534-8301 for more details.

Monee annexation hearing delayed; developers ignore opposition

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-03-26T15:44:00Z

by Carol Henrichs

A scheduled public hearing March 17 on the proposed annexation of a huge chunk of Green Garden Township property last week was postponed until next month. The reason – the accommodations were not large enough to contain all the people who had something to say. The Monee Village Hall is a decent-sized venue, but it was not enough to corral all the bodies that are interested in Monee's likely annexation.

According to attendees, the crowd was loud, upset, and wanted their voices heard. Police called for back-up and uniformed officers with K-9 units were stationed at the front door.

A new meeting will be scheduled for April 22, but no location has yet been secured.

Monee officials are attempting an uphill battle to annex 52 acres, apparently at the developers' request, of what was formerly known as the Belle Meade subdivision. The upscale housing development had already been approved in Green Garden Township. The original development, which would have fit more closely into the surrounding community, consisted of 171 lots. The lots contained plenty of open space. Horses were allowed. A riding facility which required a special use permit for the subdivision's developers, Chicago-based Emeritus Ventures was granted. Homes were to cost in excess of $750,000.

But, in 2008 after the housing bubble burst, developers Rod Yarling and Per Loseth revised the housing plan to include a much higher density – smaller houses on smaller lots.

It would not have been approved in Green Garden Township, so developers took their plan to Monee where annexation seems imminent despite loud voices against it.

The Citizens to Preserve Green Garden, which is made up of neighbors of the development, are vowing to continue to fight the proposal. They also have the backing of the cash-strapped Peotone school officials who continue to grapple with their own financial shortfalls. They can ill afford more students thrust into the already-bulging school district.

The Monee plan is clearly different than what Green Garden officials and planners had envisioned for their rural neighborhoods.

In related news, the developers have begun to sell lots in the former Belle Meade subdivision. Reports are that signs have been placed on the property, advertising, "Your home in Monee."

Putting the cart before the horse, the website at http://greengardenlots.com the site advertises the services of the Monee Fire and Monee Police departments. Building permits for the $155,000 lots are available at the Village of Monee, according to the website.

The lots are described as about 164 feet by 1327 feet to measure five acres. There are no restrictions on the lots, other than the ones that cover agriculture districts in the village.

Illiana Expressway; a bumpy road

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-03-26T14:30:00Z

by Carol Henrichs

Speed bumps may impact Indiana's new Illiana Expressway law in the form of the communities most impacted by it.

Earlier this month, Lowell, IN councilmen opposed the project even before the ink on the legislation had dried. Lowell councilmen voted not to support the plan until more is known about the route the road will take.

Lowell is situated east and slightly south of Beecher.

Tuesday officials in Lowell drafted a letter to Gov. Mitch Daniels, state senators and representatives citing a need for additional information on the project. They noted lack of local input into its planning.

Michael Jordan, a Lowell-area developer, who opposes the Illiana Expressway, wants to see Lowell officials have an audience with legislators to express their concerns. Jordan believes that supporters, who refuse to pinpoint the exact route of the Illiana Expressway, are using a "divide and conquer" strategy.

He indicated the move is designed to divide landowners who oppose the road, segregating them from others who live along a different route. It would be easier to defeat three unconnected small groups than one large group with momentum on its side.

Jordan suggests the strategy may have come about after the northern route of the Illiana into Porter County was met with tremendous opposition. He explained that when Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels saw how intense the opposition was, he dropped the plan.

"It was a single route," Jordan said.

Strategy is nothing new

A similar strategy has been used before, and by some of the same people.

In the early 1990's the proposal to build a new regional airport near Peotone was buried among five sites being eyed for development. Many believed that the Peotone site was always the favored location by decision-makers.

One of the most vocal supporters then and now for the proposed airport at Peotone is the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association. At that time, Barbara Sloan was the SSMMA's transportation director. Today, she is behind the Illiana Feasibility Study, by Cambridge Systematics.

Possibly more dissention

In another Indiana town – Cedar Lake, east of Crete – there are also some concerns about a lack of input into the project's planning. Once solidly in favor of the project, Cedar Lake officials may be starting to have some doubts.

Council members were recently put on the spot when a resident, Sharon Pacific of Hanover Township, polled them about their support for the road.

Pacific lives on 10 acres that one of the proposed routes could impact. Pacific not only has a stake in the plan, but she questions the merits of the road.

According to the Northwest Indiana Times, Cedar Lake Council President Dennis Wilkening indicated that the council's sentiments may have shifted.

The Illiana Feasibility Study identified three potential routes. One is north of Cedar Lake. Another is between Cedar Lake and Lowell. The connection in Illinois for both of those routes would be between Crete and Beecher. A third route is between Route 2 and the Kankakee River. In Illinois that translates to south of Beecher.

The Illiana has been billed as a reliever for truck traffic on the Borman Expressway or Interstate 80/94, but Lowell officials are among many who question whether truck drivers will travel an estimated 55 miles more and pay additional tolls to drive on it.

Airports and Expressways, big similarity

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-03-25T17:18:00Z

It is no wonder the Peotone Airport and Illiana Expressway have been so intrinsically linked. Not only was the Illiana a part of the early studies on the Peotone Airport, but the players remain the same. I thought I was watching an airport meeting. Barbara Sloan was the former Transportation Director for the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association. Randy Blankenhorn was a former IDOT employee.

Springtime means a new zeal for airport-building

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-03-05T19:59:00Z

Like a rite of spring, residents in the footprint of the proposed Peotone Airport have noticed plenty of activity.

Workers have been seen walking and driving in what has been defined as the inaugural airport site. It appears that it is once again time to survey the property the state hopes to add to its cache of 2,264 acres in and around the site. State-owned land is less than half of what would be needed to build the inaugural airport.

Like all other times, the purpose and identity of the workers was not readily known by landowners who remain in a near constant state of alarm at seeing strangers milling about their property. Over the years they have been harassed, lied to, and threatened. The once bucolic rural community they have known for generations has been forever altered since the state began buying land and demolishing and burning homes and farmsteads.

Several people questioned the strangers they saw. The answers they received were varied.

Some workers admitted they were working for Hanson Professional Services, according to Wendell Smith, an eastern Will County farmer and property owner. Hanson is the firm IDOT has contracted to manage state-owned property.

"They ought to know where they (property lines) are by now," Smith said referring to the numerous times workers have traipsed onto private property over the many years the state has been trying to build an airport near Peotone.

Some of the workers refused to provide identification. When Gina Birmingham inquired about workers on her property, she was told they were with the South Suburban Airport, but refused to show identification. When she asked them to leave, she was ignored. Her husband Brian contacted the Will County Sheriff's office, according to Smith.

George Ochsenfeld, president of STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down) and the Green Party candidate for State Representative related that he too saw workers in front of his property. When he asked who they were and what they were doing, the surveyors told him they were from the Village of Monee.

Ochsenfeld thought that was odd. He knew Monee wanted to annex property to the west of the village, but he was unaware of any intentions to annex southeast.

He took it upon himself to contact the Joliet surveying company where the workers were from. He was told the work was for the South Suburban Airport. The company spokesman said the crew was told to keep a low profile.

And then there is the ombudsman

Not coincidentally, these alleged trespassing incidents occurred just days after residents received a letter from Tiffany Gorman, the Ombudsman for the South Suburban Airport.

Gorman is the lawyer hired to act as an intermediary between property owners and airport officials. She is a partner in the law firm McKeown, Fitzgerald, Zollner, Buck, Hutchison & Ruttle with offices in Frankfort and Joliet.

According to her letter, she grew up in Manteno, and is very familiar with the project and its location.

Her job may be a lonely one however, since landowners have little trust in anyone paid by the state.

"We don't need an ombudsman," Smith said. "If the day comes that we need a lawyer, we will hire one."

The state budget has included $90,000 annually since 2005 for a lawyer who rarely receives phone calls. The first ombudsman was Crete Attorney Ray Feeley who was hired by Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow at the urging of then Secretary of Transportation Tim Martin.

Since that time, Will County has provided the services of the ombudsman through a memorandum of understanding with IDOT.

To Gorman's credit, she does have mediation experience, according to her firm's website.

The idea of an ombudsman resulted from a meeting in Beecher held in 2002 by Glasgow's predecessor Jeff Tomczak after a meeting in Peotone.

Two years later, more than 150 people attended another meeting with landowners. Several Will County lawyers came to the Beecher meeting to hear homeowner complaints about trespassing by state workers.

At the time, Tomczak said Will County attorneys "held a roundtable" to determine that the state was within its rights to enter private property. But, he added that the landowners are entitled to "respect and reasonableness."

Bobbi Petrungaro, a Circuit Court Judge who in 2002 was an assistant state's attorney was the first to be appointed "an ombudsman for the people."

Speeding toward the governor's desk, Illiana approved by legislature

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-03-04T03:27:00Z

There was no traffic tie-up this week in the Illiana Expressway legislation.

The House version was approved in both houses, clearing the way to Governor Mitch Daniels' desk where it is expected to be signed. The Senate vote was unanimous.

The road can be built with a public/private partnership and will run from Interstate 65 in Indiana to Interstate 57 and on to Interstate 55 in Illinois. Ten miles of the road is in Indiana with the remainder in Illinois.

Once approved, Daniels can begin to negotiate with private investors.

In Illinois, State Sen. A. J. Wilhelmi introduced a bill – SB3392 – into the Senate Feb. 10, to create the Illiana Expressway Act. It remains a shell bill that will be amended in the future with language to spell out details.

Sen. Toi Hutchinson joined three other senators who had already signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation Feb. 16.

They include Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, Kirk Dillard, D-Hinsdale, and Linda Holmes, Plainfield.

Aren't Will County priorities a little off?

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-03-04T03:22:00Z

The Will County Board has approved its annual request for federal funds in the amount of $91.5 million. That number is up substantially from last year when the county sought $26 million.

The funding request contains important, and in fact, priority projects that would be paid for with a portion of federal dollars. They include road construction, interchanges, water studies, and even initiatives in the sheriff's department and for mental health program needs.

According to a county press release, Lee Ann Goodson (R-Plainfield), who chairs the Legislative and Policy Committee, said her committee has worked hard to receive input from various county agencies in order to identify these priorities. Goodson points out, despite the challenging economic climate, the county still needs to meet critical needs more than ever.

“Many of these funding requests are aimed at quality of life issues for our residents and serve to maintain and improve their health, safety, and welfare,” said Goodson. “We are optimistic Washington will respond to our requests and we will see many of these projects completed in a timely fashion.”

One of the projects requested annually that certainly does not fit the criteria to which Goodson refers is the county's perennial request that simply falls automatically into the list every year -- a request for funds for a multi-jurisdictional land use plan for the South Suburban Airport.

This marks the sixth consecutive year the county has included the multi-jurisdictional plan in its budget.

Despite no forward movement on the project, the request remains on auto-pilot.

Despite the fact that the project remains stalled in the pre-master plan phase since the first consultant's report was approved in 1988, Will County wants to continue the planning process for land management around it.

The request involves a development plan devised years ago by Will County along with the Villages of Beecher, Crete, Peotone, Monee, and University Park. At that time, the mayors of the towns were holding closed-door meetings to come up with a workable plan they could all agree upon. The mayors' meetings resulted in legislation that has also stalled.

How much of a priority can it be to plan for a project that may not occur? Is a land use plan for a mythical airport as important as the reconstruction of the Weber Road and Interstate 55 interchange in Romeoville, Laraway Road corridor improvements through parts of Joliet, New Lenox, and Frankfort, and reconstruction of Bell Road at 143rd, which are also in the county's request for funding?

Is the airport plan as important as the DuPage River flood study or improvements to Fiddyment Creek?

Is it more important than equipping the Sheriff’s Office with an Integrated Criminal Justice Information System for $690,000 to enhance organizational and operational needs?

Is the airport plan as important as the $300,000 needed for in-car cameras for 65 patrol cars?

Is it more important than the Health Department's Mentally Ill and Substance Abuse Program which is seeking $500,000 for the Health Department’s Program?

Is it more important than an Economic Development Planning Initiative focused on the freight transportation industry in the county for $350,000?

And why don't any of the county board members question its importance?

Illiana moves forward; no guarantees

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-02-23T20:20:00Z

Legislation favoring the Illiana Expressway has moved through Indiana's House Roads and Transportation Committee. The Senate bill (SB382) has already sailed through the Senate. But there still are no assurances of its passage by the House.

Monday, by a 10 to 2 vote, the House committee authorized a privatize Illiana Expressway that is slated to connect I-65 in Indiana to I-57 and even I-55 in Illinois. An amended version has been sent to the Indiana House where additional changes are likely.

If the House approves the bill, it will then go to a conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions. To pass a final bill this session, it will have to be accomplished before March 14 when the Indiana General Assembly is schedule to adjourn.

Prior to the vote, legislators held public hearings in Indianapolis and in Crown Point where several hundreds of people showed up to voice concerns and offer support for the project.

Earlier this month, the legislation for the project caused a near war in the Indiana legislature. When State Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, an Illiana supporter, voted with House Republicans, and against his own party's chairman, House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, to kill the bill, Bauer stripped Dobis of his leadership position. Dobis, who has been a legislator since 1970, had been the House Speaker pro-tempore, the second highest position.

Dobis' vote killed the legislation, by forcing a tie of 79 to 79. He voted against the bill because it would have required a memorandum of understanding by each community along the route, and an environmental study. State Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson who introduced the legislation, said the bill was the right thing to do to protect local governments that would lose tax money because of the project.

Supporters of the Illiana Expressway in Illinois are anxiously watching what happens with the bill. There has been no movement in Illinois, except that Gov. Patrick Quinn vowed to build the highway. He said doing so would be his legacy.

Beecher Village Administrator Bob Barber said his village supports the project.

When the Illiana was first considered, its purpose was to alleviate traffic on the Borman Expressway. That would translate into cutting the number of trucks that travel through Beecher on their way south. The Illiana was expected to offer an alternative route. Yet no final route has been chosen at this time.

The final route could be between Beecher and Crete or between Beecher and Grant Park or even further south. If that were the case, trucks would still travel through Beecher to get to the Illiana. But, Barber said in that case, the village would push hard for a bypass around Beecher. He said the initial engineering work was done for a bypass several years ago. There has been no progress since that time.

Both projects are favored and are part of Beecher's comprehensive plan.

Some opponents of the road in Illinois believe the Illiana would pave the way to the Peotone Airport. Indiana supporters say the Peotone Airport has no chance of ever being built; therefore they believe the Illiana would benefit the Gary/Chicago Airport.

Monee planners rebuff fast-track annexation

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-02-23T16:03:00Z

by Carol Henrichs

The Village of Monee appears to be fast-tracking a controversial plan to forcibly annex part of Green Garden Township, but its own Planning and Zoning Committee is slowing the pace.

At a recent meeting, committee members refused to rubber stamp annexation until they have had time to examine the latest development plan by Emeritus Ventures that would occupy 520 acres of Green Garden.

Green Garden residents, its government, and the Peotone School District which assert that they would be greatly impacted by high density development in its northernmost reaches, continue to oppose the plan.

Monee residents would be impacted as well, since any increase in village services, such as roads improvements as well as police and fire protection, would be borne by its residents, according to Will County Board Member and Green Garden resident, John Anderson.

"Belle-Meade is a bad deal for Green Garden," he says, adding, that it is bad for Monee too.

"Why would the village cause its taxpayers to extend services one and a half mile to annex a residential subdivision?" Anderson asked, explaining that residential development never pays for itself.

"They don't bring money into the village," he said. Building more homes at a high density would do no more than add to existing home inventory which would bring new property values down.

Yet high density development and building more rooftops is apparently what Monee officials have in mind.

That was evident when they approved an amendment to the village's comprehensive plan.

It was adopted unanimously December 9 by village trustees and "with no discussion," according to Village Clerk Missy Tovo, who is also the wife of Village President Dan Tovo.

Tovo refused to comment on the part of the plan that included annexation of 520 acres into Green Garden Township, "because the annexation agreement is still in progress," she said. She never mentioned that it was presently before the Planning and Zoning Committee.

"I see it in the future, but it is not in there yet," she said.

The annexation is shown on Monee's framework plan map, which depicts the majority of land to be annexed as medium to high density residential with some commercial located along Monee-Manhattan Road.

The Monee plan is clearly different than what Green Garden officials and planners had envisioned for their rural neighborhoods.

In Green Garden's comprehensive plan, the area being targeted by Monee, is to remain large-lot estate zoning and agricultural use. Approved by Will County, Green Garden's plan contained the original development, which would have fit more closely into the surrounding community. It contained 171 lots with open space. Horses were allowed. A riding facility which required and received a special use permit from its developers, Chicago-based Emeritus Ventures, was included. Homes were to cost in excess of $750,000.

But, in 2008 after the housing bubble burst, developers Rod Yarling and Per Loseth revised the housing plan to include a much higher density – smaller houses on smaller lots.

It would not have been approved in Green Garden Township, so developers took their plan to Monee.

The Citizens to Preserve Green Garden are vowing to continue to fight the proposal.

Their concerns are not just the rural ambience of their community, but include the following:

·The potential for a tremendous number of students enrolling in the Peotone School District, which is already a concern;

·Not only the high density of more than 400 homes and townhouses, but thecommercial development along 88th Avenue south of Bruns Road;

·A need to upgrade tar and chip roads;

·Confusing law enforcement jurisdictions separated by lot lines between MoneePolice and the Will County Sheriff.

The group continues to meet and to discussfurther educating the public about what they see as the consequences to Monee'sactions.

Senate race and airport referendum

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-02-04T17:57:00Z

Adam Baumgartner, 23, defeated Judy Ogalla in the Republican primary for State Senate in the 40th district.

Baumgartner will face incumbent Democrat Toi Hutchinson in November.

Baumgartner, whose campaign was virtually non-existent until weeks before the primary, got a last-minute boost of campaign cash from the Operating Engineers Local 150 and Ozinga Concrete.

Baumgartner, won with 6,016 votes to Ogalla's 4,437 votes.

Baumgartner is a business owner and member of the Peotone School Board.

Ogalla is a longtime opponent of the Peotone Airport. It is unclear whether the Peotone Airport played a role in her race. It was however, the focus of a referendum in Crete Township where voters were asked whether or not they favor building a new airport.

By almost 14 percent voters rejected the proposal, with 1,724 against it and 1,313 for it.

Crete Township was the only township in eastern Will and northern Kankakee Counties not to vote in a 1990 Farm Bureau-sponsored referendum. Tuesday's vote makes it unanimous – 12 out of 12 townships oppose the project.

Illiana dead end

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-02-04T17:52:00Z

Despite Senate approval, the Illiana Expressway may have come to a dead end in the Indiana House, or at least taken a detour.

The route of the Illiana Expressway remains unknown, but the path for legislation to build the public-private toll road between Illinois and Indiana is clearly that of one step forward and two steps back.

Even after the bill sailed through the Senate recently, it didn't even warrant a committee hearing. In fact, it never even made it to the transportation committee.

The House version, sponsored by Reps. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville and Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, is being held up by the head of the transportation committee, Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson.

According to the Gary Post Tribune, Dobis charged over the weekend that Austin has "quietly filed Illiana language into a vehicle bill that included several 'poison pills,' designed to kill the project."

Because of the nature of the changes, the bill was sent to the government reform committee rather than to the transportation committee.

Austin has asked for an environmental study along the route as well as a memorandum of understanding from each of the towns through which it would travel.

She wants the bill to spell out how local governments would be reimbursed for lost taxes as well as how emergency personnel who cover the road would be reimbursed.

Dobis claims that Austin lied – that the Senate version does contain language related to reimbursing the Indiana State Police.

Austin said she wants anyone who stands to lose money to have a say. She pointed out that the language in the Senate bill does not require an environmental study. Nor does it require repayment to local governments for loss in tax base.

Dobis predicts that Austin will try to kill the Senate bill when it passes through the House as well. He blames her boss, State Rep. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, who has said the Indiana Toll Road is a bad idea.

Illinois airport featured on NBC 'Fleecing of America'

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-01-23T01:21:00Z

Last week, the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in downstate St. Clair County was showcased on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

For the third time since it was built, MidAmerica was featured on "The Fleecing of America," a news segment meant to highlight wasteful government spending.

Called the glass palace on the prairie, MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, as it is now being called, is visible from miles away, as it rises above the flat land of Mississippi River country.

Twelve years after it opened, there has been some use, but nothing like the glowing predictions that sold a sleepy southern Illinois community. MidAmerica St. Louis remains largely empty.

The modern, two-story glass and steel terminal is impressive. But don't look for a place to buy a ticket to any destination. Not only are there no ticket agents, no tickets, but neither are there any destinations. The baggage conveyor is idle, void of luggage. Restrooms are spotless, virtually unused. The terrazo floors still shine like the day they were installed.

There are occasional aircraft on the runway, mostly military planes destined for the adjacent Scott Air Force Base.

But if Illinois officials envisioned a "build it and they will come" scenario, it didn't work here. Few came. And those who did didn't stay.

MidAmerica was billed as a reliever airport for Lambert-St. Louis International, just across the river in Missouri.

MidAmerica never achieved crystal ball predictions, dubbed 'Gateway to Nowhere'

When proposed MidAmerica was estimated to cost $220 million.

It was to bring economic prosperity to southern Illinois and eastern Missouri by employing 600 people during its first year. Passenger predictions from the day forecast that 1.1 million passengers would be served by MidAmerica by the year 2000.

But in actuality, the cost was approximately $307.5 million. And there were ancillary costs as well, such as the 8.6-mile extension of the MetroLink light rail system from Belleville Area Community College to MidAmerica that cost $88 million.

The entrance roads, parking lots, final landscaping and pavement markings needed an additional $3.5 million. Wetland mitigation cost $1.8 million and $13.3 million was needed to connect MidAmerica to Scott Air Force Base.

In January' 98, Tom Brokaw of the NBC Nightly News highlighted the MidAmerica Airport in his "Fleecing of America" feature for the first time.

Brokaw called the airport the “Gateway to Nowhere.”

Finally, in the spring of 1998, MidAmerica got its first paying customer.

Langa Air, an aircraft fueling and maintenance company began a small operation there, but it was short-lived. The company later relocated back to Lambert International at St. Louis.

By summer, three Trans World Airlines jets had landed at MidAmerica bringing about $80 in landing fees each time. MidAmerica was the alternative during bad weather for TWA traffic. Lambert was its hub. But that arrangement ended when TWA was acquired by American Airlines in 2001.

In September, of ‘98, after learning that Lambert was planning a $2.6 million expansion program, State Rep. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville, a member of the General Assembly filed a complaint with the FAA. He had hoped to block the expansion, by stating that MidAmerica should be used to relieve air traffic congestion.

Other legislators came on board. Holbrook’s actions were applauded by the residents of Missouri who opposed the expansion. They would be most affected by additional air traffic.

Ironically, despite MidAmerica being touted by then Gov. Jim Edgar in previous years, he was said to favored the expansion of Lambert. He said MidAmerica was meant as a reliever for Lambert, not a replacement.

The next month, the expansion was approved. It was billed as the largest public works project in St. Louis’ history.

Expenses continue to climb

As MidAmerica celebrated its first birthday, it had seen about 3,000 take-offs and landings, though most of those were military planes. There was little fanfare.

In the summer of '99 ex-Gov. George Ryan signed a bill to create an enterprise zone around MidAmerica Airport and to offer tax breaks to companies that would move to the area and to create jobs.

Even without regular business at the airfield, the costs for Mid America continued to rise. There was a request for $2.5 million in improvements for 2000. They included a fence to keep deer off the runway, and about $50,000 to replace runway lights, which were too short to meet federal requirements.

Local taxpayers would pay $756,000; the state contributed $852,000 with the balance paid by the federal government.

The annual operating budget at MidAmerica was $2.2 million. In 1999 it was increased to $3.4 million, with a million for salaries of security guards, maintenance workers, managers and other personnel. Part of that expense included marketing costs of $161,000 to four companies.

Today, operating costs have risen to $4.7 million and includes 14 full time and two part time employees. That includes a director, assistant, and workers in resources, operations, planning and engineering, maintenance, and ground services. The budget is overseen by the St. Clair County Public Building Commission.

In August, 2000 a restructured Pan American Airlines began flying out of MidAmerica. Its first flight, Aug. 16, was to the Gary/Chicago International Airport. But as luck would have it, the return trip, that was supposed to be 45 minutes long, was delayed. The pilot was forced into a holding pattern for five hours and was later directed to land at Lambert in St. Louis.

Three months after September 11, 2001 Pan Am suspended its flights at MidAmerica and soon thereafter closed up shop for good.

For a time, charter flights were offered to the Caribbean. But that didn't last long either.

Little changed at MidAmerica until June 2005. Eight years after it opened, MidAmerica celebrated its 10,000th passenger. That was about 980,000 passengers shy of the predicted goal expected five years earlier in 2000.

Then Allegiant Air took flight each week to Las Vegas and Orlando, Fl. airport supporters remained optimistic. Then Allegiant Air cut its Florida business because it was unable to compete with the low fairs offered by Southwest Airlines at Lambert.

Even the longtime St. Clair County board member Craig Hubbard, R-O'Fallon, admitted that building the airport may not have been a good idea.

Acknowledging that MidAmerica never achieved its goals, he said he doubts he would do it all over again, if given the chance.

Michael Boyd, a longtime Colorado-based aviation consultant warned officials about the potential for MidAmerica twelve years ago. He feared it would not be successful.

Supporters are now interested in turning the airport into a cargo facility. They think that idea could turn things around at MidAmerica.

They point to weekly flights that began in 2008 to import flowers from South America.

Boyd recently told them there is nothing to turn around, because they have built something that simply isn’t needed.

MidAmerica has never even approached the inflated expectations of its aggressive marketing campaign.

MidAmerica story, Peotone tale oddly similar

To people in eastern Will County, the MidAmerica saga and the state's proposal to build another airport in the farm fields near Peotone are eerily similar, even down to the cast of characters who have used the same playbook.

IDOT's consultant, TAMS, was responsible for both projects' highly-criticized pie-in-the-sky projections of users, operations, enplanements and job creation. Both projects were started by Gov. Jim Edgar. One project came to fruition under his administration while the other still has not. But there may be a second chance since Edgar's chief of staff, Kirk Dillard, who helped his boss do some of the political heavy lifting in those days, happens to be running for governor in the Republican primary.

But the biggest commonality between MidAmerica and the proposed Peotone project is how they both have bled Illinois taxpayers.

Many claim that Peotone would be just another MidAmerica.

Critics of Peotone issue the reminder from a 19th century philosopher, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Crete Township voters to weigh in on airport

carol@ozarkattitude.com (ch) — 2010-01-17T19:41:00Z

As a result of action at last spring's annual town meeting April 14, Crete Township voters will have a chance to weigh in on the Peotone Airport.

An advisory question will be on the ballot in Crete Township's general primary election February 2, 2010, to ask residents if they support building the Peotone Airport.

Angelo Juarez, who has lived in rural Crete since 1971, requested that the question be brought to voters.

An advisory referendum is "the only tool residents of the unincorporated area have to make their wishes known," he explained recently.

"Since nobody asks us what we want, I got tired of being pushed around," Juarez said. "I asked for the referendum." And he wasn't alone since the response by the electorate present who were eligible to vote was unanimous.

Juarez said he has been opposed to the airport since 1968 when he first bought the land upon which he built his home.

He makes no predictions, but hopes voters show their opposition to the airport.

"I don't want the airport here. It will trash our lifestyle," he said.

He remarked that at that time he built his house, it was surrounded by farms. He categorized that as very different from what he believes the politicians and decision-makers envision for the area today. He was critical of Crete's land use plan that includes the area where he lives – an entire section of Crete Township – to be all commercial and industrial use.

Airport, Intermodal, Illiana Expressway

A year earlier, Juarez requested that the effort to build Crete's proposed Intermodal yard be placed on the ballot. The result was that 57 percent of the voters in the township voted against it.

At the time Juarez said, "It is obvious that the village of Crete did not follow the will of the people."

Just after the vote, Crete Mayor Mike Einhorn, the biggest promoter of the intermodal facility was undaunted by the 3,000 votes against the project. There is no reason to believe an airport referendum would solicit a different response.

Still, Juarez believes that people should have their say. And when decisions are made, the peoples' wishes should be taken into account.

But, it isn't the airport that is Juarez's biggest concern. The airport has languished on the back burner of doable projects for years. The intermodal is a relatively newly proposed project.

"I am convinced that the airport is somehow linked with the intermodal," Juarez said. He also categorized the Illiana Expressway similarly.

"I only wish that the other three townships that surround the airport would have put the issue to a vote as well." he said.

Juarez said he was unaware or didn't recall that a previous referendum was held on the airport.

Past referendum

In November, 1990, ten out of 11 townships in Will and Kankakee counties voted against building a new airport. There were 12 townships polled. Crete Township was not included among them.

The only township of the dozen polled that supported the airport was Monee Township.

But that turned around in a survey in 1993 of Monee Township residents. Monee officials also failed to act upon the wishes of township residents. Despite being instructed at an annual town meeting to pass a resolution opposing the airport as indicated by the survey, no action was ever taken.

The survey indicated that in University Park, 44 percent of the residents said they preferred to live at least an hour away from an airport. In the unincorporated areas, that number swelled to 62 percent. Only 7 percent wanted an airport within 10 minutes of where they lived. Christine Cochrane was the township supervisor at the time. She later went on to become IDOT's project manager for the third airport.

George Ochsenfeld, president of STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down) said he would like to see the people of Crete Township speak their opposition loudly, though he puts little stock in their desires being carried out.

"I've seen how little regard airport boosters like Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. have for peoples' opinion on this matter," he said.

While Ochsenfeld is all for the people speaking through a referendum, he feels that this one isn't necessary.

"The people have made it abundantly clear during the past 20 years that an airport isn't wanted or needed," he said.