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IDOT Crystal ball failed in 2010

Chicago Skyline (Photo credit: TomC)

Perhaps time flies, but it is doubtful that the South Suburban Airport ever will.

By now, a new airport south of Chicago was supposed to have not only been up and running, but was supposed to be wildly successful, giving credit to thousands of jobs that would make the Chicago region "recession-proof." Those were the actual words they used to describe the benefit of a new airport south of Chicago.

The year 2010 was a very important one in the life of the "third airport," (South Suburban Airport, Peotone Airport, and Abraham Lincoln National Airport) all names for the same project, by the way.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Blago

The Internet is a funny thing—I just found this post listed in a forum in Paris, Texas.

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I think our justice system is severely lacking in justice for all. 


Blago got -what - 14 years for his crime and Jesse Jackson, jr wasn't even tried for his role. Junior offered to buy the nomination which is just as wrong. And I have to believe that Obama knew about it as well as Eric Holder and Rham Emmanuel. That's a 4 to 1 ratio . Wonder how much was influenced by racism?
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It appears that Illinois and its infamous Chicago's south side Congressman (Jesse Jackson, Jr.) have fans all across the country.

Microsoft vs. Peotone; both start in 1985

Image via CrunchBase

Business Model vs. Boondoggle

In 1985, Bill Gates who incorporated Microsoft four years earlier, released the first version of the Windows Operating System. It made him one of the country's youngest millionaires.

That was also the year that three Illinois state senators sponsored a resolution to begin the study of a new airport to serve the Chicagoland area. It has since evolved into the Peotone Airport, one of the state’s biggest boondoggles.

Look at the evolution of the two projects.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s irony

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.

Peotone Airport advocates, adversaries converge

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.

Airport opposition, not about race

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 comments to my blog post Pro-Anti-Peotone Airport forces plan separate events.

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.