"Fitzgerald: Peotone airport inevitable"

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Fitzgerald: Peotone airport inevitable 
TRANSPORTATION: However, senator says Jackson, Weller must unite in
order for plan to come to fruition
BY PHIL ROCKROHR
The Munster (IN) Times

 
CHICAGO -- Lame-duck U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., believes a
third major airport will eventually be built outside Peotone.

However, that process may take much longer -- and could be blocked -- if
U.S. Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Chicago, and Jerry Weller, R-Morris,
don't iron out their differences over how the airport is built,
Fitzgerald said.

"I think it will eventually happen," he said of construction of the
airport. "I don't know how long it will take. I'm concerned that two
disparate groups have risen and are now fighting."

If proponents of the proposed Abraham Lincoln National Airport and Will
County Regional Airport do not join forces, Mayor Richard Daley may be
able to politically block construction of the airport, Fitzgerald said.

"I would like to see Congressman Jackson and Congressman Weller get
together and be unified in their proposal," he said.

Fitzgerald declined to comment on allegations that Daley's
administration may be behind the recent proposal from Will County
officials, who initially worked with Jackson on his plan and jumped ship
sometime last year.

The senator's aides confirmed that Will County Executive Joe Mikan
worked with Jackson and representatives of the Suburban O'Hare
Commission in the early stages of planning Abraham Lincoln National.

At some point, Mikan mysteriously broke contact with the coalition and
later announced Will County's proposal, they said. In early 2003, Mikan
appeared on Jackson's weekly cable television show discussing the plan.

Chris Arman of the Chicago Aviation Department's O'Hare Modernization
Program has attended planning sessions for the Will County plan. Arman
could not be reached for comment.

Mikan said Arman's only interest is keeping O'Hare International Airport
abreast of the proposal, and he denied Chicago officials are backing the
county's efforts to control the project.

Fitzgerald said he plans to release satellite photos of the rural area
around Dulles International Airport before it was built outside
Washington, D.C. Those photos should dispel the notion that Peotone is
too far removed from development to house an airport, he said.

"When you look at these photos of the proposed Dulles site, there is
nothing out there," Fitzgerald said. "Today there are 130 Fortune 1,000
companies there."

Fitzgerald blamed changes in editorial stances at Chicago's daily
newspapers for intimidating Illinois' political leaders into backing the
expansion of O'Hare over a third airport.

The Chicago Tribune initially endorsed a third airport, he said. Daley
himself backed the idea when he proposed building it on Lake Calumet.
Now the mayor and the Tribune say it's not necessary, Fitzgerald said.


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