Welcome to CHBlog.ozarkattitude.com News and commentary by Carol Henrichs, retired journalist and Peotone Airport historian
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Peotone area residents seething over Jesse Jackson, Jr. insensitivities
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?
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Politics and Peotone; Jackson defeats Halvorson
I can no longer say that an airport will never be built in eastern Will County, my mantra since 1987.
U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Losing the Illinois primary election Tuesday, March 20 might have taken the wind out of Jackson’s sails, with regard to his Peotone Airport obsession, an obsession he claims he doesn’t have. A Jackson defeat might have ended the folly of the Peotone Airport.
We will never know though, because he won; he won very handily. I’m sure this win has given him a new zeal. I fear he will be like Pac Man after swallowing a power pill.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Two Illinois Governors now serving time
If I hadn’t watched the news coverage, I wouldn’t have believed that ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich would really end up in federal prison. Yet that is exactly where he now lives—at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado, far from his Chicago home and his wife and two daughters.
I have thought about him from time-to-time, after learning about his arrest, conviction, and ultimately, what seemed to me, to be a harsh sentence.
I cannot imagine the kind of agony he and his family must have felt knowing that he, a two-term Governor of the State of Illinois, husband and father, would have to report to prison, to live in an unfriendly, alien environment among common thieves and murderers.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Super PAC Redemption
One of the worst elements in our Democracy, in my view, is the
ability to buy an election. This is really nothing new. As the amount of money
spent on campaigns escalates, so does my ire. It seems that funding is the
single-most determining factor in picking our leaders. But wait…there could be
some redeeming qualities about Super PACs.
On their face, I have not changed my opinion. But this year has
been so outrageous, so over-the-top, so outlandish, that I can’t help but see
not only a little humor in this situation, but a little poetic justice as well.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Will County hypocrisy
Will
County Executive Larry Walsh, a Democrat and Will County Board Chairman Jim
Moustis, a Republican, seem to have joined forces, on the same side for once.
When
U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. started shooting off his mouth about a deal with
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to build the long-beleaguered Peotone Airport,
Moustis wrote a letter to Quinn.
“You
will not dump on us,” Moustis told the governor.
Moustis
continued by saying he did not want Will County to be treated like second-class
citizens. He said Will County would fight all the way. He referred to
governance of a potential airport.
They
are nothing but hypocrites
Why do
Moustis and Walsh refuse to see that what they are complaining about are the
same things residents of eastern Will County have been experiencing at their
hand for more than 25 years?
Their
costly shenanigans, borne by the taxpayers of Will County, to hire lobbyists
and consultants, for example, is designed to result in an airport the airlines
say they won’t use, a majority of the citizens countywide don’t want, and
aviation experts say will be an unsuccessful business venture. Yet they
continue to pursue it. It is now like a game with them—a game of one
upsmanship—between them and Jackson at the citizens’ expense.
They
are arguing over controlling something that may never exist. The airport
remains unapproved by the Federal Aviation Administration. The U.S.
Transportation Secretary dismisses it.
Gee
Jim, it is hell to be treated that way
I know
what Moustis must be feeling. It really is hell to be treated like a second
class citizen.
I no
longer live in Illinois, but I will never forget what it was like to stand
before those people—to testify against the proposed Peotone Airport.
Some of
those 27 board members weren’t even courteous enough to listen to what I and
others had to say. Their blank-stares and nose-in-the air expressions couldn’t
wait to dismiss us. Rarely have I ever experienced such unpleasantness as in
trying to reason with public officials. It is no wonder regular people steer
clear of public meetings and have such a bad taste in their mouth about
politics.
It is
too bad Will County didn’t listen to reason all those years ago. I wonder what
might have come of eastern Will County had so much energy and resources not
been squandered chasing the Peotone folly. Will County could have found fame
and fortune by using its own resources had there been leadership and intellect.
Perhaps eastern Will County could have set a world-class example for organic
farming; Del Monte or some other company could have built a plant there and
begun processing a new line of heirloom tomato products; or perhaps grapes
grown in Will County soil could become the basis of a new Eastern Will County
wine. Alternative energy, such as wind or solar or something brand new could be
developed there. The sky’s the limit, but instead these fools decided to chase
a 1968 project.
I’m
really sorry you are being treated like a second-class citizen Jim.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Voice of Reason
A voice of reason has finally
crept into the Peotone Airport debate.
The pure voice of reason, so
often muffled, finally echoed throughout Illinois media recently. It was that
of Michael Boyd, a Colorado aviation consultant of Boyd Group International, Inc.,
the company co-founded by Boyd in 1984.
Boyd who began his aviation
career at American Airlines in 1971 has an independent philosophy that
rings throughout his company. That quality has catapulted the Boyd Group to
become one of the most respected voices in the industry.
Boyd is not a political pundit.
He is not a mouthpiece for proponents of building a new airport near Peotone
which has traditionally filled countless pages of newspapers for as many years.
Instead, Boyd is an independent aviation expert, which is not
normally associated with the Peotone project. Perhaps that explains why
newspapers from all over the state have picked up an Associated Press story
recently that quoted Boyd as he warned against proceeding with a new airport
near Peotone.
For this one story, headlines
were varied; each told the story in its own way. Headlines included: “Aviation
consultant predicts losses for proposed Peotone airport project; Would Peotone
be next airport boondoggle?; and Critic says third airport could be fiasco.”
MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
No matter what the headline,
the message was clear. Claims that a Peotone airport would be some kind of
panacea for the State of Illinois in general and the south suburbs in
particular is nothing but a bunch of hooey. Rarely has there been a news story
about this project that wasn’t spun out of a positive press release issued by
the Illinois Department of Transportation, governor’s office or worse yet, by
one of Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s cohorts.
This was an honest,
indisputable airport story and it was damning.
From what I could glean, the
first story was reported in the Bloomington
Pantagraph, and picked up from there. It quoted Michael Boyd as saying the
Peotone airport could be a “major fiasco” similar to MidAmerica St. Louis
Airport in southwestern Illinois. He called MidAmerica “a monument to dishonest
planning.” Last year, MidAmerica Airport posted an operating loss of nearly $12
million, according to the Pantagraph.
Countless other people,
including myself, have said the same thing for years, but coming from an
aviation consultant of Boyd’s caliber, the facts are worth listening to.
Boyd’s comments were prompted
by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn saying a compromise to move the Peotone Airport
planning were forthcoming. He referred to a compromise in the governing of the
project, not the need for the project, which remains unproven.
As Boyd points out, Illinois
has seen a 10-percent drop in the number of people traveling to and from its
nine airports. Routes are being cancelled, and arguably the largest carrier,
American Airlines’ parent company AMR Corp. recently filed for bankruptcy
protection.
Of the Peotone project, Boyd
also categorized it as a “solution looking for a problem.” He says it is a
political project fueled more by politics than need.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Blago and Jesse Jackson, Jr.
It is too bad for former Illinois
Governor Rod Blagojevich that he engaged with the likes of Jesse Jackson, Jr.
It was a trifling that cost him his freedom.
On Dec. 7, the day the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaimed that day
to be one that would live in infamy. It certainly will for Blago, because that
was the day he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Was that a fair sentence when
compared to his predecessor George Ryan who was sentenced only to 6 1/2 years?
In my mind, it wasn't but then I
make my assessment based strictly on the character of the man rather than
strict legal terms.
I
took this picture of Blagojevich during happier times--on a campaign stop in
Joliet while running for re-election. I wasn't enamored with him for his stance
on the Peotone Airport. While he served as governor, he gave the airport plenty
of positive lip service, but never really followed through. That was probably
because there was nothing in it for him.
Blago also taught us that size
does matter when it references ego. Other than that, his tenure in the state
house, or his Chicago house, from which he did most of the state's business,
was not as upsetting to me as some of his predecessors--cold-blooded
oportunitsts. I found Blago to be more of the warm-blooded variety. Even though
he often put himself first, he did try to help others as well.
I would not say he was a bad
governor, as Illinois governors go.
Had it not been for that vacant
Senate seat issue, would the state have even had a case against Blago?
To me, and I admit some partiality
in my opinion, Jackson is the one that should be taken to task. I hope the
Senate Ethics committee looks deeply into their investigation of Jackson. His
ethics are indeed in question, at least in my mind.
I agree with a recent op-ed
piece posted in several local newspapers about why the Senate Ethics committee
should continue looking into Jackson's behavior. Congressman
Jackson has had a pattern of immoral behavior This blog is quoted
within it.
Just before Blagojevich was
sentenced, the House announced it would continue to investigate Jackson.
I can't speak to Jackson's other
deeds in congress, but I know he has misrepresented the facts surrounding the
potential of a regional airport at Peotone as well as the potential of
utilizing the existing airport at Gary, Indiana. That has been my focus for the
last twenty-five years.
Jackson's latest action is in an
attempt to gather support for the Peotone project far from ground zero where
knowledge, and information is lacking. According to newspaper reports, Jackson
is taking his pro-airport dog and pony show to Woodridge, a DuPage County
community far from Peotone where so little is known or frankly cared about,
that Jackson can get away with saying whatever he pleases without being
challenged. He did just that recently in a visit to a village board meeting
where he reiterated his fantasy that construction on a new airport could begin
in six months. He fails to mention that the project has not yet been approved
by the FAA, or that studies will preclude a decision for at least two years.
Jackson will never stop spewing
misinformation to get what he wants. Perhaps, in this election year, it is time
the people with ballots stop him instead.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
House Ethics Committee needs to dig deep into Jackson dealings
Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. |
Jackson claims that
neither he nor his emissaries ever offered money to ex-Illinois Gov. Rod
Blagojevich for the appointment.
Can we believe Jesse
Jackson, Jr. and his less than monogamous relationship with the truth?
If the House members
believe that Jackson’s role in allegedly trying to buy a U.S. Senate seat is an
isolated incident, I certainly hope they probe just a little deeper.
Jackson not only
tried to coerce Blagojevich into handing over a seat in the United States
Senate, but Jackson also tried to get Blagojevich to hand over land to his
self-established airport authority for his pet project, the Peotone Airport.
Jackson has devoted
his entire congressional career toward the State of Illinois’ ill-fated effort
to build a new airport outside the 2nd congressional district. The latest
redistricting, would finally place the Peotone area into Jackson’s grasp. That
is, if he wins re-election, which only time and ultimately an election can
determine.
Jackson’s campaign
website once blatantly included Peotone in a list of communities in the second
congressional district. After much criticism, he later corrected it.
In 2007, I was
tuned-in to C-Span to watch Jackson’s performance as he sought an earmark of
$231,000 in the Financial Services Appropriations bill for “minority and small
business development and procurement opportunities.” Jackson painted his usual
rosy picture of the proposed airport, which Jackson has dubbed the Abraham
Lincoln National Airport. He began talking about how beneficial the project
would be to the poorest people of Illinois.
I was angered when I
heard Jackson tell his colleagues the airport would abut Ford Heights, one of the poorest
community in Illinois. Ford Heights is in Jackson’s district. It is a poor,
urban, predominantly black community. It has long been a high crime, blighted
area, with high unemployment. In stark contrast, the area where the airport is
proposed, is a relatively affluent, predominantly white farming community with
low crime and virtually no unemployment. Its economy centers on agriculture.
Not only are the two regions geographically far apart, but they might as well
be worlds apart politically, socially, and economically. The people who live in
the Peotone area are adamantly opposed to the airport Jackson touts. I know. I
helped organize an opposition group against the project in 1988.
One of the critics of
Jackson’s request earmark was, Congressman John Campbell, R-CA who introduced
an amendment to the bill to ban Jackson’s earmark, calling Jackson’s request
“federal funding for a phantom airport.”
Campbell’s bill would
have stripped taxpayer funding for the Abraham Lincoln National Airport
Commission because, as he stated the Abraham Lincoln National Airport doesn’t
exist.
He pointed out that
in a Jackson press release in Nov. 2006, Jackson said he would not seek federal
funds for the airport.
Campbell also
questioned the potential conflict in the dual role of Jackson’s Deputy District
Administrator Richard Bryant, who is now Jackson’s Chief of Staff. Bryant is
also the Executive Director for the Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission
(ALNAC) that Jackson established.
Back in Illinois,
ex-Congressman Jerry Weller, R-Morris, in whose district the proposed project
would be located, called ALNAC into question when it raised $267,000 to lobby
Blagojevich. Weller called the campaign “self-promotion,” because Jackson was
eyeing a possible run for the Chicago Mayor’s office. Weller suggested the
money be returned “to the impoverished communities.”
Jackson had
envisioned that state-owned land, about half of what the state needs for the
airport, could be simply turned over to Jackson’s airport commission. An
opinion by Attorney General Lisa Madigan, however, issued an opinion that under
Illinois law, the state cannot convey property at no cost or for less than fair
market value.
These issues are
likely just the tip of the iceberg, which is why an intense investigation is
warranted.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Gary Airport to get commercial service; Peotone still a field of dreams
Soon to be flying over the skies at Gary/Chicago Airport |
The Gary/Chicago International Airport has once again made
an announcement that commercial air service will begin at Gary. This time, the
announcement was made by Keith Hanson, who represents the airline. He announced
that two flights per week, destined to Orlando, FL will fly out of the Gary
airport, starting in February 2012.
Last
September, it was rumored that Allegiant would begin service at Gary, but
apparently the announcement was premature. The day before a press conference
was scheduled, several news sources reported that a big announcement by an
unnamed airline would be forthcoming. The marketing firm—Diversified Marketing
Strategies of Crown Point, IN, identified the airline as Allegiant. The
announcement was cancelled by the airlines .
That
isn’t the case presently, as the latest proclamation that Allegiant Air will
begin service at Gary, this time, comes from the airline itself. Hanson added
that service to Florida may be just the beginning. He added that If it proves
to be successful, additional destinations can be added.
While
commercial airline service at the Gary airport has been on-again-off-again
proposition, it is not for a lack of trying. Indiana officials have long committed
to the success of the northwest Indiana airport.
The
last commercial airline to utilize the Gary/Chicago airport was Skybus which
ceased operation just one week after it began in the spring of 2008. A year
prior, SkyValue ceased operation at Gary due to financial difficulties. Other
airlines have come and gone over the years, but a subscription for success has
yet to be achieved. That certainly isn’t for a lack of trying. The Gary/Chicago
airport has had financial help from the federal, state, and local agencies,
including the City of Chicago, in an attempt to land long term commercial
service there.
Meanwhile,
on the other side of the border, Illinois officials continue to: 1) ignore the ready aviation
facility at Gary, which is just miles from the south suburbs they claim to be
trying to help; 2) try every way possible to coerce support for a new airport
in the farm fields near Peotone, IL, almost 50 miles south of Chicago.
The
project has been talked about for almost a half-century with little forward
progress except to shrink it to about the size of Gary’s airport.
The
only real step toward fruition came when the incarcerated ex-Illinois Gov.
George Ryan, made a deal with a campaign contributor to buy the first piece of
land outside the airport footprint. Since that first parcel in an
under-developed upscale subdivision became state-owned, Illinois officials have
used scare tactics and threats of eminent domain to scare landowners into
selling their property to the state. They have taken full advantage of
artificially reduced land prices due to the threat of an airport nearby, and
most recently the country’s economy and housing bubble to entice willing
sellers who feel they have no other options but to sell to the state. Even
still, the state has now obtained only about half of the land it would need for
a new airport. Landowners that remain are unwilling sellers who vow to fight
the state from taking their property, especially for a project that hasn’t even
been approved.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
South Suburban Airport is all about 'spin'
What a wonderful world
this would be if all things could be viewed through the rose-colored glasses of
the proponents of the Peotone Airport.
News continues to be
manufactured by the Illinois Department of Transportation in its push for
Peotone, or South Suburban Airport, (SSA). Funny, it is always positive.
Imagine that! Since I began studying this proposal in 1988, ‘spinning’ the news
has been IDOT’s long held practice.
Take IDOT’s latest
press release, dated Nov. 10, touting the approval of its Facility Requirements
Report of the SSA Master Plan.
“Approval of the
Facility Requirements Report is a critical step in the SSA Master Plan
process,” says Susan Shea, director of the Illinois Division of Aeronautics.
Shea continued, “FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has now agreed to what should be built at SSA and this
further demonstrates FAA’s continued support of the South Suburban Airport.”
That is like saying
finding your car keys is a critical step in driving your car. But to hear IDOT
tell the story, it would be as if this one document was the precursor to a
Record of Decision on Peotone. Nothing could be farther from the truth. IDOT
never tells the whole story, but rather their hand-picked version to showcase
their project in the best possible light.
For example the
Facilities Requirements Report, which outlines the basics of the facility is
just one of so many documents needed to develop a master plan. I recall the
talk about a master plan in 1987 when the first airport study was approved. It
is all a part of a process that must occur before the FAA can determine whether
or not Peotone is worth doing or not. The latest submission doesn’t even
include the airport’s official layout.
The reality is that
IDOT is playing catch-up in readying for its new and improved airport layout
plan, which is yet to be submitted. I wonder how many different plans IDOT has
submitted to the FAA over all these years.
In this instance, it
seems they finally hit on something the FAA can agree with. Honestly, this is like
an annoying kid who accompanies his mother to the grocery store. You know that
kid. He kicks his hands and feet from his perch in the grocery cart. He
screams, causes a real ruckus and embarrasses his mother. He wants candy. She
finally gives in just to shut him up.
Mundane or not, this
submission results in another glowing press release by IDOT. It was apparently
enough to inspire yet another over-zealous editorial by the Southtown
Star, Tuesday, Nov. 29, a long time advocate for a new airport at Peotone. The
paper quoted IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell, a former editorial writer for
the Southtown Star before he was recruited by IDOT, who called
the FAA approval “a huge step.”
The latest approval by
IDOT is not really that big of a deal, since it is required to be submitted
before the airport layout plan, which has yet to be submitted, let alone
approved.
Remember the last time
IDOT submitted an airport layout plan in 2008—well actually two plans. IDOT
officials thought they were being clever trying to entice the FAA into doing
its dirty work. IDOT expected the agency to solve the bickering between
Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Will County officials in their dueling
airport plans. Each had a different idea about how the airport should be
designed and run. So, IDOT submitted both plans to the agency.
Apparently the FAA’s
purview doesn’t include solving petty political squabbles, so they returned the
documents to IDOT telling them to submit just one preferred plan.
But that isn’t all.
Another example of IDOT’s ‘spin’ came earlier this year with the FAA’s approval
of airport activity forecasts. In March, IDOT issued a press release stating
the FAA approved its aeronautical forecasts. Using the same crystal ball that
IDOT has been carrying around since the late 1980’s IDOT’s numbers finally fit
the margin of acceptance for the FAA.
“This is truly a
significant accomplishment,” says Susan Shea…”FAA’s approval of our forecasts
validates the need to develop airport facilities that will serve the south
suburban greater Chicagoland area.”
Oh please, the reality
of the FAA’s position was outlined in a letter to Susan Shea, dated March 23,
2011.
In the letter signed
by James G. Keefer, Manager of the Chicago Airports District Office, Keefer
wrote, “We believe these levels project passenger, cargo and general aviation
demand and aviation activity at reasonable levels and outline the risk
associated with a proposed new airport such as SSA.”
Keefer referred to the
following levels of operations:
--Low-case for
passenger operations
--Low-case for cargo
operations
--High-case for
general aviation operations.
It has been stated, but is
worth reiterating that Bult Field, a privately operated general aviation
facility which IDOT initially tried to prevent from becoming operational, must
be incorporated into SSA to make it viable.
If passenger and cargo
operations at SSA are projected to be low, general aviation operations are
projected to be high, and Bult Field already handles general aviation—isn’t
that further evidence that another new airport is simply not needed?
It seems to me that
Bult Field is not for sale, and if it were, could IDOT afford it?
I guess that too would
depend on IDOT’s ‘spin.’
Friday, November 11, 2011
IDOT to collect food for needy families
Illinois Department of Transportation’s
Division of Aeronautics has begun an aggressive community outreach program,
according to the state’s latest airport improvement plan for 2012 – 2014.
One of the first items of business is to
donate food and cash to Helping Hands of Peotone, a food pantry that serves
families in Will County.
Helping Hands is a wonderful organization
of volunteers that got its start in the late 1980’s by a small group of caring
women who devoted their time and talents to stitch new clothes for needy
children. As the needs of the community grew, the focus to provide needy
families with life’s bare necessities shifted toward the most essential
need—food. Today Helping Hands is a member of the Northern Illinois Food Bank.
While on the surface such a gesture sounds
noble, it must not be forgotten that IDOT and its agencies and employees have a
long history of trying to sell the
proposed airport to anyone who would
listen through aggressive public relations work. These same people
participating in this seemingly good faith move are the same ones that have
earned five– and six-figure salaries, paid by Illinois taxpayers for decades,
to work on a project that most in the region do not want—the Peotone Airport.
While it is good to want to make nice with the people of Will County, it must
not be forgotten that these are the same people responsible for the destruction
and decimation of the rural community that lies between
Beecher and Peotone.
The Peotone Airport has been their golden
goose, so it is nice to see them want to give something back for a change. The
participating organizations so far have meant nothing but destruction and
decimation to eastern Will County.
Let us not forget that more than a decade ago, this was the
before and after view of a rural house—the first house destroyed by IDOT in the name of the Peotone Airport in December 2000. Since
this time, there have been dozens of perfectly good, livable houses, destroyed,
hundreds of letters to landowners threatening to take property through eminent
domain for a project that remains unapproved by the FAA, not to mention the
destruction of a once-cohesive rural community and its functional farm economy
for an airport that is opposed by the industry it is supposed to serve, the
people who would be its neighbors, and several government agencies that have
signed resolutions against it.
I applaud this gesture that will benefit
hundreds of needy people. I just can’t help, knowing the history, if this is
being done in good faith or just so they can look good for a change.
For this positive effort, IDOT will bring
together the following participants:
- AECOM, Chicago
- Alpine Demolition, Geneva
- C.J. Pohrte Maintenance Inc., Steger
- Chicago Title Insurance Co., Joliet
- DL Dubois & Associates Ltd., Hickory Hills
- Hanson Professional Services Inc., Tinley Park
- IDOT, Division of Aeronautics, Springfield
- Kowalenko Consulting Group, Chicago
- Mach Security Operations Inc., Beecher
- Midwest Environmental Consulting Services Inc.,
Yorkville
- Peter and Dorothy Quattrocchi, Oak Lawn
- South Suburban Airport staff, Peotone
- Southcomb & Associates, Joliet
- Susan Shea, Director, Springfield
- Total Property Maintenance, University Park
- William H. Metz & Associates, Oak Forest
- Windy City Home Inspections, Highland Park
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Jesse Jackson Jr.'s jive talk continues
Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. |
Jesse
Jackson, Jr. continues to make the claim that he can deliver a shovel-ready
airport at no cost to the taxpayers. He refers to the unsuccessful project that
dates back to 1968 and is known as the Peotone Airport. The State of Illinois
calls it the South Suburban Airport. Jackson calls it the Abraham Lincoln
National Airport. Make no mistake, none of these projects are close to becoming
a shovel-ready project at no cost to the taxpayers.
In a recent rah-rah
speech in Kankakee, at the southern reaches of Jackson’s newly-drawn second
congressional district at a meeting of the NAACP, Jackson made this outlandish
statement.
I’d like Jackson to
explain how a project could be shovel ready when more than half of the land
needed for a new airport remains in the hands of landowners unwilling to sell
to the state. Or, how does he consider a project shovel-ready when it hasn’t
even gained approval by the Federal Aviation Administration? And how can it be
shovel-ready when a general aviation airport that is privately owned and
sanctioned by the FAA—Bult Field--already operates in the footprint of the
airport Jackson wants to build?
I’d also like Jackson
to explain how his pet project would not cost the taxpayers. Oh he claims to
have developers who will put up their own money to build the Peotone Airport.
But the construction of the facility is hardly the only cost to building an
airport—one in the cornfields 40 miles south of the City of Chicago. It would
be a facility surrounded by rural land which is serviced by well and septic
systems. It would be located amid creeks and streams that tend to overflow
during heavy rain. Who will pay to build the infrastructure needed to service
an airport in the cornfields if not the taxpayers?
How does Jackson
explain buying the remainder of the land, if not at the taxpayers’ expense? Or
how can Jackson forget about the tens of millions of dollars already spent on
this ill-conceived, folly. Former Illinois Transportation Secretary Kirk Brown once
estimated the state had spent $100 million on the project. That was during his
tenure with the state. He retired in 2002. I can guarantee the bills certainly
didn’t retire with him. The state has continued to wrack up costs for
state-sponsored studies, land acquisition, legal fees, consultants, public
relations work, etc.
That was just the
past. Future cost to the taxpayers will continue to be thrown at this dead-end
project in the form of infrastructure, additional land acquisition costs, and
guaranteed legal fees to fight all the innocent landowners who have been under
pressure to sell their property since this project began.
It all sounds like
the same kind of jive talk we’ve been hearing for years. I don’t believe it for
one moment.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Illinois farmers greet Jesse Jackson Jr.
Interestingly
Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. finally came to Peotone, the place he has been
talking about for 18 years, the place that has been the focal point of his
congressional tenure, the place he wants to decimate and urbanize.
Now that Jackson’s
new congressional district has been redrawn, it includes the land where the
proposed Peotone Airport has been tentatively sited. The remap is a victory in
itself for Jackson, who has long tried to mislead people into believing it has
always been in his district. See Jesse
Jackson needs a geography lesson.
It is almost
laughable how Jackson has tried to schmooze the farmers whose land he wants for
his pet project, into thinking he gives a damn about them, the land they work,
or their rural way of life. He doesn’t. They are only a mean to his end. He
wants only to use them to get what he wants—political power over jobs,
contracts and ultimately campaign cash.
Jesse Jackson, Jr.
had to talk hard and fast to get this audience of eastern Will County farmers
to listen to what he had to say; he carefully crafted his words to try to reach
them. Yet what he actually said might have the same effect as that which these
farmers spread on their fields to help the crops grow. Jackson probably decided
prior to the visit, that the best way to reach them was to emulate his
conservative colleagues which he loathes, since most of these farmers
traditionally cast a Republican ballot. I’m sure he did his homework and
learned that many of them sympathize with the tea party movement. Jackson is
too arrogant to consider that he has little chance of winning them over.
As a longtime advocate
for these folks keeping their land out of Jackson’s hands, I resent Jackson’s
inference that he understands their lifestyle. His talk of praying for sun and
rain, joking about driving a combine, and drawing first a comparison with his
African-American ancestors who picked cotton in the south and later with the
people of Iowa he met along the campaign trail, was insincere and likely
ineffectual. Try as he might to get into their good graces, I doubt it worked.
It is offensive that
Jackson would try to take advantage of religion and culture to worm his way
into the hearts and minds of the local farmers in eastern Will County. These
are good people, with too much dignity to tell the congressman what they really
feel. I can almost guarantee they will never vote for him, no matter how many
stories he tells them about how he understands their plight.
The one thing he did
offer that might give them pause was his promise of a “fair market exchange”
for those who are willing to sell their land to the state. Closer evaluation
will show this to be a ruse as well.
First, Jackson
promised that if they became willing sellers, they would receive fair market
value. Anyone could make that promise since that is the law. But he also said
they could farm the land for free until the land is needed. On one hand,
Jackson claims construction could begin by June. Even Jackson knows that isn’t
doable. So he is dangling the carrot on the end of the free farming stick. It
was an interesting ploy, given that farmers are businessmen like everyone else
in this faltering economy. Jackson also knows that for some the fight might be
out of them after all these years since the Peotone Airport was first proposed
in the 1960’s but heavily marketed since the 1980’s.
“An airport will be
built on that land,” Jackson said, speaking of the needed state-owned land
which represents less than half of what is needed. No doubt, that is as he sees
it, yet his view seems to be shared by less people every year as support for
the airport dwindles.
His flim-flam
guarantee for the opportunity to farm the land for free is simply not his to
make. While Jackson acts as though he and his self-appointed airport authority,
ALNAC (Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission) owns this project. It does
not. It hasn’t even been approved by the FAA at this point. No decision will be
made for years since the perpetual studies continue. Jackson is a U.S.
Congressman unaffiliated with the State of Illinois, yet he continues to behave
as though he has the right to negotiation with landowners for the State of
Illinois. He has no such right.
The bottom line is
that if Jackson thinks he is going to convince farmers in eastern Will County
that they should voluntarily sell their land for an airport they don’t want for
the sake of jobs in the south suburbs, Jackson is delusional.
I will at least give
Jackson credit for finally coming face-to-face with Peotone-area farmers.
Because his adversaries appear polite, easy-going, reserved, and all the other
attributes the good people of the Peotone area possess, Jackson probably thinks
winning them over will be a cake walk. That shows how little he really knows
about the farm community.
Jackson’s
visit can be viewed thanks to willcountynews.com.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Halvorson wants to defeat Jesse Jackson, Jr.
It is no surprise that Debbie Halvorson plans to run again for Congress--in the newly-drawn 2nd congressional district. The seat happens to be held by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., her former colleague with whom she battled during her last tenure in congress.
Halvorson served in the 11th district which abutted Jackson’s 2nd district. Since the maps have been redrawn, his district now encompasses much of the territory in her former district. She was defeated, at the conclusion of her first term, by newcomer U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
Halvorson is a long shot. She rode into office in 2008 on President Barack Obama’s coattails. The hugely popular Republican takeover by the tea party in 2010 swept her back out of office.
Halvorson’s announcement to run again is no surprise because that is what politicians do when they lose. The truth of the matter is that there are rarely losers in politics, especially in Illinois politics. Once connections are made, promises given, and bucket loads of cash ensures ‘a friend in the factory,’ often times the same people run over and over again, sometimes for the same and sometimes for other posts. When it becomes impossible to convince the public to vote for them, they are usually appointed to a government job. It is as if holding elected office is the step to getting a high-paying cushy government job with all the benefits the taxpayers will give.
Halvorson wanted to be named Illinois transportation secretary, but Illinois governor Pat Quinn appointed someone else. So, for now, Halvorson will have to forego the big bucks political job in favor of being a congresswoman, if she can convince the public.
The Peotone Airport battle
While the two were colleagues, Halvorson and Jackson battled over the
proposed Peotone Airport, but not the fight that should have been waged. As the
project was located in the 11th congressional district, Halvorson should have
represented her constituents, the majority of which have proven countless ways
that they opposed the airport. Instead, she chose to pay her allegiance to the
unions in Joliet who salivated over perceived jobs and contracts. She sided with
the huge concrete and asphalt companies who contributed campaign cash over the
people who only had their votes to give. Her battle with Jackson was over who would control an airport if and when it was built.
Both took a pro-airport position despite Halvorson’s first public position being against it.
In 1996, Halvorson was a virtual unknown in the political realm. She was a Mary Kay salesperson and Crete Township Clerk. She rose to political stardom in 1996, however when she defeated the popular Senate Majority Leader Aldo DeAngelis.
Halvorson was once anti-airport
Halvorson ran as a no-airport candidate. I know because I was at her campaign headquarters that night. I and many others were elated when this seemingly down-to-earth woman who was on our side, defeated the godfather of the Peotone Airport. Little did we know that the minute she set foot in the capital in Springfield that she would a DeAngelis clone.
Saying all the right things to all the right people, Halvorson ascended rapidly to become Illinois’ first Senate Majority leader.
It will be interesting to watch the battle between these two. As far as I’m concerned—they are evenly matched. Neither has been able to get what they want.
Just days into her campaign and already Halvorson is sniping about Jackson’s ethical issues, which includes a House investigation over Jackson’s alleged attempt to buy Obama’s senate seat and his marital infidelity. Political theater is always a spectator sport.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
IDOT hires 16 new workers
The Illinois
Department of Transportation has never played by the same rules as everyone
else.
Despite talks
of budget cuts, economic recession, and laying off more than 1,900 state
workers in Illinois, its transportation department has hired 16 new
employees--supervisors--that critics claim are not needed.
The new jobs,
which are supervisory in nature will, according to some critics, duplicate work
already being done by field supervisors who recently joined a union.
The move creates
an entire new administrative layer, with each earning about $100,000 annually,
far more and in some cases double that of the former supervisors.
IDOT denies
the new jobs have any connection to the unionization of employees, despite the
announcement coming just weeks after the previous workers joined the Operating
Engineers Local 150.
Speaking of
unneeded new IDOT jobs, IDOT has also hired a new project coordinator for the
long-dormant South Suburban Airport.
On Sept. 12,
IDOT announced the hiring of William M. Viste, as project coordinator for the
South Suburban Airport. The state project has languished since 1985 when it
brought to life an idea first considered in the late 1960's not long after
O'Hare International airport opened for business.
According to
the South Suburban Airport website, Viste will be charged with "ensuring
the technical accuracy of the project's reports and submittals, provide status
oversight for the various facets of this complex project, and respond to
technical questions and comments from federal, state, and local agencies,
communities, landowners, and other stakeholders."
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Jesse Jr. no longer has to lie about Peotone
It appears that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., (D-Chicago) won't have to lie aboutwhere the proposed Peotone Airport is located. It will finally be in his district.
Jackson has certainly been less than honest about the Peotone Airport, his pet project for the last decade. His insinuation that it was in Illinois' second congressional district, his district has been around so long that even newspapers have wrongly reported it. Truth is, all this time, the proposed Peotone airport has been in the 11th congressional district. We have all seen that when politicians tell a lie often enough, the truth sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.
Jackson lied to his colleagues on the House floor with the claim that the proposed airport is next to Ford Heights, one of the poorest suburbs in the State of Illinois. (see stories below). His aim was to push through earmarks attached to a spending bill.
The truth is the Peotone project is far enough from Ford Heights that it would likely have no effect on the jobless there.
Now, it looks like Jackson will finally be getting his way. If the redistricting plan put forth by Illinois Democrats is approved, and it looks as if it will, Jackson's district will encompass the proposed airport site as well as the small farming towns that surround it.
If the people of eastern Will County complained before about their congressional representation, I fear they haven't seen anything yet.
What does Jesse Jackson, Jr. know about farming, soil and water conservation, growing crops, small town living, or any of the other things that will make such a city mouse totally out of his element in the country. The result of this out-of-character pairing will likely be that he simply ignores the will of the people of eastern Will County. Then again, that is nothing new, since he already has a history of trying to steamroll their rights and dismiss their wishes as he advocates taking their land so he can shove an unneeded airport down their throats.
Public officials in eastern Will County will also likely be void of representation. While mayors and their boards have had a decent rapport with their representatives, this will be a whole new ballgame. Many of the mayors have had scathing things to say about Jackson. Now he will be their representative.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
100-yr. old man says no to IDOT
One of the obstacles facing the State of Illinois in their effort to build a new airport near Peotone, is a 100-year old man named Anthony Rudis.
I know Tony Rudis and believe him to be a formidable opponent. He is right about his claims in a recent newspaper interview. He said IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) is harassing him.
That is their modus operandi. They have harassed the people of eastern Will County for years, dating back to the days I first started following this project, back in 1987.
They forge on despite never getting the go-ahead from the Federal Aviation Administration. Nor does the State of Illinois have the funds to build an airport—funds which are grossly underestimated—because the estimates do not take into account the millions of dollars of infrastructure that would be needed to transform a farming community into a transportation center. In addition, a new airport has never been proven as a necessity for the Chicago region, though numerous state-sponsored studies make that assumption. Finally, despite politicians' claim that without airline partners the airport will never be built. They ignore the airlines' declaration that they will not use an airport at Peotone. Since 1985, this project has remained in a perpetual study phase.
Rudis says it is wrong to use eminent domain to try take property or to threaten to do so even before the Federal Aviation Administration has given the project a green light.
Yet, IDOT continues to try.
Rudis has put his foot down, by not allowing the state to trample onto his property or his rights. He refuses to allow IDOT contractors onto his property to do another assessment of his property's worth. The agency sent out yet another series of letters recently claiming it is their right to inspect the premises in order to appraise his and other properties for the purposes of the airport study. Rudis is right in asking how many times they have to make their assessment. It has been done several times before. Nothing has changed.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Peotone Airport and old soup
Normally, perseverance is an admirable trait, except in the case of old soup.
Will County Executive Larry Walsh apparently tried to stir the soup that is the Peotone Airport. It sits in a rusty old pot filled with withered ingredients, boiled down so many times, that there is little left of it.
Walsh recently traveled to Springfield and Washington, D.C., His trip was likely little more than his effort to try to bring the soup back to a boil. That isn't perseverance, though—it is more like futility. The soup pot sits on an old broken stove that can barely ignite a spark. Cooking soup needs fire, and there is so little heat left.
Walsh's trip is likely in response to statements by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood who said as much during a recent visit to Will County. While LaHood and the rest of the country is talking about high speed rail, a full-course meal by comparison, Walsh continues to stir that rancid soup.
At the same time, Walsh's trip and the subsequent local headlines that followed, had the added benefit of sticking it to the opposing party, something Will County partisans are always up for.
Just a few weeks ago, Republican County Board Chairman Jim Moustis suggested de-emphasizing the Peotone Airport which he categorized as becoming a distraction. He even considered reconfiguring the county board to two-person districts, recognizing the difference between the east and west sides. He cited the proposed airport as an example, stating that less-populated areas of eastern Will County who oppose the proposed airport should have their own representation rather than being included with portions of faster-growing areas where residents are more neutral on the project.
Walsh apparently met Tuesday with Susan Shea, IDOT's director of aeronautics, in Springfield. He later went to meet U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Florida in the nation's capital. Mica chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Both are already supporting chefs in Walsh's soup. In fact, Shea is probably taking credit for the recipe, even though it was passed down to her from her predecessor Kirk, (make jobs for myself and my friends) Brown.
Mica added a few ingredients into the broth back in the day that former Congressman Jerry Weller invited him to Will County's kitchen. Those were very different times. The ingredients weren't quite as withered as now.
Shea and Mica—it is doubtful these chefs have anything new to add to Larry's soup.
Interestingly, there has been no mention of Walsh stopping by the White House to talk soup with his poker-playing pal, the President. Perhaps Mr. Obama is too busy with an entire banquet full of issues to deal with his buddy's old soup.
So, despite headlines in the local papers, Walsh's trip was largely much ado about nothing.
He attended the County Executives of America legislative conference. That was likely the purpose and focus of his Washington trip. This is just more about the same old soup still trying to simmer. There are no new ingredients in enthusiastic voices; no nourishment in the form of jobs to stave off unemployment.
So, the result is just a little more stirring of the same old pot. The only difference is that the smell is getting worse.
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