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On Thursday, DuPage Circuit Judge Kenneth Popejoy ruled in favor of the city of Chicago, allowing them to demolish roughly 500 homes in the Bensenville suburb to make way for the proposed O'Hare runway expansion. Popejoy said, "The plaintiffs' experts at most testified that there may be an issue of concern...Tentative questions and concerns do not constitute actual harm." The demolition was put on hold a year ago when Popejoy ordered, "an environmental study to guard against the release of any hazardous materials during demolition" after attorneys for the village claimed that such a demolition would release toxins into the air.
For their part, officials of Bensenville aren't backing down. Bensenville attorney Joseph Karaganis claims the village will file an appeal with both Judge Popejoy and the state of Illinois, adding, "If a bulldozer shows up on a street of the Village of Bensenville, the Village of Bensenville is the owner of those streets and is in control of those streets." Village President John Gelis also had some choice words, saying, "Chicago has failed to show how they plan to pay for this misguided billion-dollar boondoggle." He added, "We'll take whatever steps we have to to stop this destruction. Why are you going to destroy this beautiful neighborhood when there is never going to be an O'Hare Modernization Program?" Gelis also called Mayor Daley "vindictive" and claimed, "We all remember Meigs Field," referencing Daley's controversial and illegal decision in March 2003 to destroy the runway at Meigs Field airport by having bulldozers gouge X's into the runway, effectively closing the airport.
Many of the homes in the affected area of Bensenville are now vacant, bought by the city; only 30 families remaining in the area that will be razed. One such resident is 83-year old Arlene Benson, who says that what the city offered her for her house wasn't enough to relocate: "I couldn't afford what we have here." Another resident, Jerry Hatchett, is equally nonplussed about the arrangement. "I'm not too happy about it...I don't have no neighbors. But I know it's gonna be short-lived. You know, when they make their decision, we'll be packin' up and gettin' out of here." Officials for the city say the demolition likely won't happen until the end of the year. [Trib, S-T, CBS2]
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The area is a ghost town now. It's a little late to fight this. The houses and businesses are vacant, boarded up and deteriorating. I can understand why they wouldn't want the expansion but the deal is done. At this point it is a senselless fight on the part of Bensenville.
senseless
Good thing Daley is in China, or the bulldozers would have probably rolled at midnight last night.
Honestly, to preserve the tax payer money being wasted in fighting off Bensenville's suit it probably would have been better had the bulldozers rolled at midnight.
I understand why the communities in the way of this expansion are upset, but I just don't see it being prevented. Frankly, for the economic health of the entire region, I do not want it prevented. O'Hare is a huge source of employment (direct and indirect) and ensuring that it remains an important transportation link is vital to the Chicagoland area.
Too bad for Bensenville. The greater good should triumph, for reasons Chicago D gives. (Then again, I wonder what the crumbling of the current airline-industry business model will mean for a bigger O'Hare.)
Man, I hate it when I agree with Daley. Shower time.
Air travel is beginning its descent. The world is going to get bigger again for all of us as the price of oil increases and airlines cut back service and raise prices. If the city really wanted to invest in a transit infrastructure for the future, we'd team up with other nearby cities to build high-speed rail. Surely dealing with the NIMBY factor for rail can't be as bad as wiping out entire towns. Right now, Amtrak takes a back seat to freight in Chicago -- it's a joke. This runway ggarbage is more about handing out contracts than investing in the future. I find it disturbing how Chicago can just gobble up towns. Ohare itself, on the city's map, is basically in the shape of a balloon -- the airport's the cirle and the expressway is the string leading back to the city. I thought the days of annexing suburbs was over but I guess as long as Little Big Man's in charge, cemetaries can be relocated and towns destroyed even though there are other airports nearby that could expand.
What happened to that 400 million dollar defict. The city has money or an airport expansion that the airlines dont even support. Ohare has had thousands fewer flights than last year.