9/6/05: FAA Determines Meigs Closure Illegal
Imposes Maximum Fine
Friends of Meigs call for Daley to pay personally
Chicago, IL – According to news reports, today the Federal Aviation Administration has finally determined that the City of Chicago did indeed violate federal law in its midnight demolition of Meigs Field. The FAA has imposed the maximum fine allowed by law, $33,000.
Another investigation into the improper use of up to $2.8 million in federal aviation funds by the City of Chicago is still pending. Fines in that investigation could reach triple the amount misspent, or over $8 million.
“This vindicates what we’ve said all along,” said Steve Whitney, president of the Friends of Meigs Field, “Mayor Daley’s midnight massacre of Meigs was illegal. Good government doesn’t happen in the secret of night.”
Today’s action was the latest in a growing list of federal investigations of the Daley administration, including the Hired Truck program, minority hiring, and corruption in the Chicago Park District.
The Friends of Meigs Field—a 6,800-member volunteer organization dedicated to the downtown airport—called for Chicago Mayor Daley to pay the fine personally. “The Mayor of Chicago knew when he did this that it was illegal and would incur fines,” said Whitney. “Taxpayers should be outraged if they are made to pay for such blatant abuse of power.”
The FAA reportedly informed the City of Chicago of its findings in an August 31 letter, according to chicagobusiness.com. The City reportedly has 15 days to pay the fine or ask for a hearing.
Federal Aviation Regulations require that proper advance notice be given in advance of the closure of airports like Meigs, in part to allow the FAA time to analyze the adverse impacts. Since the Meigs closure, traffic, delays, congestion, and safety hazards have been reported to have increased at Midway and O’Hare airports. In addition, many flights appear not to be making the trip to Chicago any longer.
Fines increased since Meigs’ closure
The $33,000 fine made public today is the maximum allowed under the regulations prevailing at the time of Meigs’ destruction in March, 2003. Since that night, Congress passed new legislation—known as the “Meigs Act”—that increased the fines tenfold, to prevent such actions in the future.
$8 million investigation still pending
The FAA is still investigating whether the City of Chicago improperly spent over $2.8 million in restricted federal aviation funds designated for airport improvements. According to documents filed by the City of Chicago in December replying to the FAA’s Notice of Investigation, the City admitted to spending $2,887,462 in airport funds demolishing Meigs to make way for a nature park the mayor has sought since the early 1990’s.
If found to have misspent the money, the City would be required to repay the FAA, and—if the City refused—subject up fines totaling up to triple the amount at issue, or over $8.6 million.
“Those funds are to be used for improving airports, not demolishing them,” said Whitney. Cities like Chicago are restricted from spending Airport Improvement Program funds and similarly restricted federal aviation monies for purposes other than improving the nation’s airport system.
The City of Chicago cited other cities’ use of airport funds for demolition of closed airports, but in those cases, the FAA gave prior approval of the expenditures.
More information:
chicagobusiness.com article:
http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=17682 (see below)
City of Chicago legal brief in reply to FAA Notice of Investigation, 12/3/2004:
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2004/041206meigs_response.pdf
Crain’s Chicago Business story 9/6/05:
FAA fines Chicago over Meigs Field
By Steve Daniels
The Federal Aviation Administration is moving to fine the city of Chicago $33,000 in connection with the sudden closure of Meigs Field more than two years ago.
In an Aug. 31 letter to the city’s Department of Aviation, the FAA said it’s assessing the civil penalty because the city didn’t notify the FAA before demolishing the runways at Meigs Field. The city provided the federal agency with notification a short time afterwards, but by then the runways had been destroyed and the airport couldn’t be operated.
The FAA letter gives the city 15 days to pay the fine or ask for a hearing on the issue. A spokeswoman for Mayor Richard M. Daley didn’t return calls today requesting comment.
Mayor Daley ordered the closing of Meigs, which took place in the early-morning hours of March 31, 2003. At the time, the mayor said the small airfield, used primarily by business executives and government officials to fly in and out of the city, posed a danger because of the possibility it could be a target for terrorists.
The city is now converting Northerly Island, the strip of land just south of Navy Pier that was home to Meigs, into a park.
Still pending is a proposed FAA order that would fine the city up to $4.5 million for allegedly misspending $1.5 million in airport funds to demolish Meigs Field, an FAA spokeswoman says.
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