Mayor Daley, Harrison Ford Play The Feud

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Jan 14, 2010 7:20PM

Mayor Daley likes to play the feud and now he's got one going full-steam with Han Solo himself, Harrison Ford. Why? Meigs Field. Harrison fired first (hear that, George Lucas?) when he talked to Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker - promoting a new film - and expressed continued anger at the infamous bulldozing of Meigs Field, saying he was, "furious. I don't think I've been as angry about anything in a long time." Ford, who grew up in the Chicagoland area, is a pilot in his spare time and didn't take kindly to Daley's actions: "I'm still livid about it.''

While the Maine East alum admitted the plane he piloted into Chicago this week ''was too big to land at Meigs,'' he still expressed frustration at having to fly into Midway -- which, he said, ''I really hate to have to do.''

We all know Mayor Daley wouldn't take such criticism without responding and he fired back.

“He’s a multi-millionaire. He can fly anyplace he wants in the country. This guy’s a multi-millionaire and you’re listening to him. ... He doesn’t live in Chicago...I don’t want to call him elitist, but it is. He has a jet. He has all these planes and all these toys. And he doesn’t understand this economy is tough with people and that lakefront belongs to us. ... They’d love to privatize the whole lakefront for a few people. That’s not the history of Chicago. ... He should read the Burnham Plan.”

Da Mayor then recounts a 2006 encounter between the two that he thinks ticked Harrison off a bit more and then, as usual, defends his decision on Meigs Field: “I have no regrets. None whatsoever...That was the best thing for open space that’s ever happened. And legally we did it right.” And then Mayor Daley ordered Ford frozen in carbonite.

If you want to read a bit more non-Daley-feud-related Harrison Ford stuff, check out this profile by the Tribune.