Meigs was awesome, I flew there many times for days/nights/weekends in the city. I wish it was still there.
But... anytime I visited CGX, I was astonished at the lack of traffic and people. In fact, most of the time, the place was a ghost town. I recall that near the closing - commercial flights had dropped to one departure/arrival to/from Springfield per day.
It is my belief that Meigs was vastly under-developed for both GA and commercial flight, and as a result was under-utilized. This helped lead to the public apathy which indirectly supported Daley's efforts to close Meigs.
Consider the following:
-With a few exceptions (police and govt type helicopters), I don't think anyone was allowed to base at Meigs.
-I do not recall any privately owned (individual or business) hangars.
-There certainly were not any businesses operating at the airport
-At 3900 feet, Meigs was not a long airport. 3900 feet is great for us piston and turboprop pilots, but as far as jets go, only Citations could regularly use the airport. Then, the runway was shortened by about 500 feet with the North-most 500 feet becoming displaced threshold for RWY18.
-For years, CGX did not have an instrument approach with low minimums. There was a visual-type procedure that followed one of the expressways, and I believe a VOR-A approach off of the Chicago Heights VOR.
As a result of the above, none of GA's biggest and wealthiest advocates - corporations were based at Meigs. So they did not have much at stake in the closing.
In addition, many GA pilots I spoke with were deterred by the takeoff/landing fees (which were pretty high, around $25-50). IMHO - I believe they were reasonable considering a few hours of parking your car in a parking garage downtown would have cost $20-30.
Trying to look at the brightside of things...
#1. The land is still there, and largely undeveloped. Aside from the crappy looking pavillion/bleachers (
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/8449983.jpg) for the music amphitheater, it is largely a prairie with walking trails. As a result, it would be very feasible to pour a new runway someday.
#2. I do like the 12th Street Beach. It is quite empty given its remoteness, and the high cost of parking near the observatory. Pretty ironic given that one of Daley's arguments was to give the land back to the people, not the privledged few wealthy (pilots).
