"Mayoral ally hired for O'Hare job"

Thursday, June 27, 2002

Mayoral ally hired for airport job
BY ROBERT C. HERGUTH
The Chicago (IL) Sun-Times


Yet another person with ties to Mayor Daley has been handed potentially
lucrative work at O'Hare Airport, this time to help the City of Chicago
buy the land needed to realign runways and relocate those in the path.

"That's the way the city works. The city works by taking care of friends
and former allies and aides," said Elk Grove Village President Craig
Johnson, whose community stands to lose at least five commercial
properties to Chicago for the expansion project.

Jeff Boyle, who headed Chicago's Transportation and Planning and
Development departments in the 1990s for Daley, is the latest mayoral
ally to get O'Hare business.

Others have included former Daley aide Victor Reyes, close associates
Patrick Harbour and Oscar D'Angelo, political operative Jeremiah Joyce,
and Grace Barry and Barbara Burrell, friends of the mayor's wife.

Boyle started last month after being hired as a no-bid subcontractor by
McClier, a firm doing aviation consulting at O'Hare, said Chicago
Aviation Department spokeswoman Monique Bond.

Boyle was hired because--with his knowledge of regulations and nearly 30
years of experience in property development--he's "uniquely qualified,"
she said.

And because he's a subcontractor and involved in consulting--technically
called professional services--"there's no bidding requirement," Bond
said, adding that Boyle is being paid by the hour. She said she wasn't
sure of the rate.

To reconfigure O'Hare runways under its plan, the city needs to buy more
than 400 acres and relocate hundreds of reluctant residents and
businesses.

Boyle is responsible for "the land acquisition and relocation effort,
he's managing that," Bond said.

His duties so far have included attending a workshop sponsored by the
city for home and business owners in the targeted areas, meeting with
suburban leaders such as Johnson to discuss land buys, and contacting,
among others, St. Johannes Cemetery, one of two historic graveyards
Chicago officials want moved to accommodate runways.

"Basically it was, 'You should sit down with us and do a voluntary sale
because otherwise we're going to go after you,' " said Bob Sell, an
attorney whose ancestors are buried at St. Johannes.

Bond said that wasn't the tenor of the conversation, which was more of a
"courtesy call."

So far, more than 50 suburban homeowners have completed applications to
sell their land to the city, whose land-acquisition Web site has fielded
more than 7,000 hits.

Boyle did not return many phone calls, and a McClier executive could not
be reached.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the House Transportation Committee voted
unanimously Wednesday to advance a compromise measure that is intended
to solidify into federal law an agreement to expand O'Hare Airport.


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