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Meigs Field
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===Demolition and closure=== [[File:Meigs field runway4 (cropped).JPG|thumb|Meigs Field Runway a few days after destruction ordered by Mayor Daley. The large X marks were cut into the runway by [[bulldozer]]s to prevent aircraft from taking off or landing.]] In 1994, Mayor [[Richard M. Daley]] announced plans to close the airport and build a park in its place. Northerly Island, where the airport was located, was owned by the [[Chicago Park District]], which refused to renew the airport lease in 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2004/04-1-160x.html|title=Meigs Field β one year later|work=aopa.org|date=11 November 2009 |access-date=23 May 2015}}</ref> The city briefly closed the airport from the expiration of the lease in October 1996 through February 1997, when pressure from the state legislature persuaded them to reopen the airport.<ref>{{cite news | author=Staff writers | url=http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/1996/96-4-169.html | work=Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association | title=Illinois Legislature votes to take over Meigs Airport | date=December 5, 1996 | access-date=18 February 2013}}</ref> On the night of March 30, 2003, Mayor Daley ordered city crews to make the runway unusable by bulldozing large X-shaped gouges into the runway surface in the middle of the night.<ref>{{cite web| title=Daley cites security in closing of Meigs, Pilots' group blasts overnight demolition of runway | url=http://www.friendsofmeigs.org/html/reflections_on_a_dark_night.htm | publisher=Friends of Meigs Field | access-date=2008-06-05}}</ref> This resulted in several aircraft being stranded on the ground at the airport; these were later allowed to depart from Meigs' {{convert|3000|ft|adj=on}} [[taxiway]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Staff writers | url=http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2003/03-2-014x.html | work=Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association | title=Stranded Meigs pilots can go NOW! | date=April 2, 2003 | access-date=18 February 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720045652/http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2003/03-2-014x.html | archive-date=20 July 2011 | url-status=dead}}</ref> "To do this any other way would have been needlessly contentious," Mayor Daley claimed at a news conference on March 31.<ref>{{cite news |title=When the mayor bulldozed an airport |date=2011-05-01 |first=Eric |last=Zorn |url=http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2011/05/when-the-mayor-bulldozed-an-airport.html |newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> Daley defended his actions by claiming it would save the City of Chicago the effort of further court battles before the airport could close. He claimed the closure was due to safety concerns, in particular the post-[[September 11, 2001 attacks|September 11]] risk of terrorist-controlled aircraft attacking the downtown waterfront near Meigs Field.<ref name="abclocal.go.com">{{cite web|url=http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=191393|title=abc7chicago.com β ABC7 WLS Chicago and Chicago News|work=ABC7 Chicago|url-status=dead|access-date=2007-06-20|archive-date=2011-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629015630/http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=191393}}</ref> [[File:20070110 12th St. Beach House (cropped).JPG|thumb|12th Street Beach House{{context inline|date=May 2024}}]] "The signature act of Richard Daley's 22 years in office was the midnight bulldozing of Meigs Field," according to ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' columnist [[Eric Zorn]].<ref>{{cite news |title=When the mayor bulldozed an airport; Daley's action inspired admiration, outrage and amusement |date=2011-04-30 |first=Eric |last=Zorn |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/04/30/when-the-mayor-bulldozed-an-airport/ |newspaper=Chicago Tribune }}</ref> "He ruined Meigs because he wanted to, because he could," columnist [[John Kass]] wrote of Daley in the ''Tribune''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rich and me: How we fell out; I once believed in the bungalow mayor, the neighborhood guy who didn't put on airs. Unfortunately, that guy didn't exist |first=John |last=Kass |author-link=John Kass |date=2011-05-05 |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0505-20110505,0,3260675,full.column |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110509031035/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0505-20110505,0,3260675,full.column |archive-date=2011-05-09}}</ref> While aviation interests and commentators decried the move, supporters of the park believed it was in the city's best interest for the land to be a park.<ref>{{Cite web|last=reporters|first=Jon Hilkevitch and Kim Geiger, Chicago Tribune|title=10 years after Daley's Meigs Field raid, the makeover of Northerly Island is slow to take shape|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2013-03-31-ct-met-meigs-field-10th-anniversary-0331-20130331-story.html|access-date=2020-12-27|website=chicagotribune.com|date=March 31, 2013 |language=en-US}}</ref> For example, the Lake Michigan Federation (later the [[Alliance for the Great Lakes]]) released in February 2001 an urban wilderness plan for the site. Instead of calling it "Northerly Island" a reference to the northernmost landmass of four others that were never built under the [[Burnham_Plan_of_Chicago|1909 Plan of Chicago]], "Sanctuary Point" would allow access for many more people than the fairly exclusive use as an airstrip.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chicagowilderness.org/CW_Archives/issues/summer2003/news/midnightrun.html|title=News of the Wild|work=Chicago Wilderness|date=Summer 2003|access-date=15 August 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819090723/http://www.chicagowilderness.org/CW_Archives/issues/summer2003/news/midnightrun.html|archive-date=19 August 2014}}</ref> On July 28, 2003, an aircraft flying from Maine to the [[EAA AirVenture Oshkosh|Experimental Aircraft Association Annual Convention]] in [[Oshkosh, Wisconsin]], made an emergency landing on the grass next to the demolished Meigs Field runway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://friendsofmeigs.org/html/news/2003-07-28_emergency_landing.htm|title=7/28/03 Emergency landing|work=friendsofmeigs.org|access-date=23 May 2015}}</ref> Mayor Daley accused the pilot of intentionally landing in order to "embarrass" him, despite the FAA's statement that the pilot "did the correct thing" in landing the plane at Meigs.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=d8fd8f4d-d71a-4ae5-b87b-d565ca94997d | title=Friends of Meigs Condemn Daley's Remarks, 'Shows His Indifference To Air Safety' | work=Aero News Network| date=August 4, 2003 | access-date=18 February 2013}}</ref> Interest groups, led by the Friends of Meigs Field, attempted to use the courts to reopen Meigs Field over the following months, but because the airport was owned by the City of Chicago and had paid back its federal aviation grants, the courts ruled that Chicago was allowed to close the field. The FAA fined the city $33,000 for closing an airport with a charted [[instrument approach]] without giving the required 30-day notice. This was the maximum fine the law allowed at the time. In the aftermath, the "Meigs Legacy provision" was passed into law, increasing the maximum fine per day from $1,100 to $10,000.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-10-24 |title=AOPA Expo '04: Alaska's Rep. Don Young Honored With Prestigious Hartranft Award |url=http://www.aero-news.net/SpecialContent.cfm?ContentBlockID=440f5571-2092-4c73-9d36-b37c801ae1cc&cat=12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524105153/http://www.aero-news.net/SpecialContent.cfm?ContentBlockID=440f5571-2092-4c73-9d36-b37c801ae1cc&cat=12 |archive-date=2011-05-24 |access-date=23 May 2015 |website=aero-news.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Phelps |first=Mark |date=2008-08-05 |title=Daley wins, Meigs fades to a memory |url=https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2008-08-05/daley-wins-meigs-fades-memory |access-date=2022-12-22 |publisher=[[Aviation International News]] |language=en |archive-date=December 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222095058/https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2008-08-05/daley-wins-meigs-fades-memory |url-status=dead }}</ref> On September 17, 2006, the city dropped all legal appeals and agreed to pay the $33,000 fine as well as repay $1 million in FAA Airport Improvement Program funds that it used to demolish the airfield and build [[Northerly Island]] Park.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eaa.org/news/2006/2006-09-19_meigs.asp |title=City Of Chicago Finally Caves Over Illegal Meigs Destruction |date=September 19, 2006 |access-date=18 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211074238/http://www.eaa.org/news/2006/2006-09-19_meigs.asp |archive-date=11 February 2012}}</ref>
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