The Write Stuff!

#1 -- Guest Essay

Dear Friends:

We have seen some changes since that day in November of 2008' when our air space was invaded from east to west involving the new north runway 9L27R.

Most here who are living in the glide path - support the return of the "Cap" that was ripped away by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

We are now seeing 200-300 jet air craft per day since that day and the non governmental organizations - continue to grow with the home spun leadership factor.

Yes, many have said , " We tried to fight it, it cost us approximately over 2 million plus and where did it get us "?

We also saw first hand, the city council members split there votes and moved towards the ONCC side. Some supported the people, some did not and many slept through the warning signs.

Additionally, the runway usage has not let up since and more air traffic is on the way with runway 9 Center set to have its ribbon cutting by next year. This will additional east to west runway will follow Granville and into O'Hare.

We have sought meetings, received form letters, formed committees, neighborhood - ward groups and so on.....with no results.

Unfortunately, we have even seen a few of the alderman play the good guy with this very important health and air safety issue while an area school lost out on it's sound proofing.

Recently, and through the Freedom of Information Act - request made , I personally was able to view the records kept involving the airport issues, meeting minutes, contact between city council members back then and now. I was not able to view any of the closed door meeting mins.

My observation is: Former Mayor Howard Frimark never lifted a finger ( prior ) to September 2005' and the sign off on the re-configuration of the runway system at O'hare.

Mr. Terrance Brunner's 2004' OMP Corruption Report is very explicit and goes into further detail involving all of the key O'Hare towns that were targeted by Mayor Daley's office back then and now by ONCC.

There was NO prior documentation to support that former Mayor Frimark took it upon himself to fight for the people here in setting up any meetings with Mayor Daley forces.

Now, we are faced with an even higher level of jet fuel - toxicity within the 5 mile marker - which by the way reaches out to cover all of the City of Park Ridge and more.

The current Federal investigation into the " OHare Case" continues with some key players in the pay to play scandal.

Yet, we now see the for sale signs springing up through the glide path from the 41st ward and through our city's - south ward areas.

They call it the "trail of fear" from the cockpit view while inbound on final approach. Some sadly, have already moved out. Others are waiting until their kids are through with school.

In another most recent development - a team of aviation expert attorneys - have been contacted to further review - if we in fact have a civil case before the clock runs out.

Only the FAA and the City of Chicago have the complete authority of what flys through our air space and at what altitude we might add.

Changes are coming with the most recent change in our air space that has been upgraded to class B". The Ad-Hoc FAA committee and their report # 148 also points to lowering the altitudes for many aircraft across the nation's air space.

Next Gen is currently being reviewed prior to its application across the national grid by the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force command staff.

In closing, the comment , made by the chief officer and pilot who holds the office of accident analysis for the country through the Airline Owners and Pilots Association - was on the mark:

" Air space redesign was formed to manage and compress the key air routes across our Grid".

This means more planes through the efforts of Mr. James C. May who is the president of the American Transportation Association that is based in Washington, D.C.

Mr. May is the chief lobbyist for the commercial airlines and wants more planes in our air space. He has been known to also testify on the "Hill" in front of the U.S. Commerce and Infrastructure committee.

In closing, we have been let down by those politicians who took it upon themselves to respond to a market that is in demand for constant and increased revenues.

Somehow, they lost sight and unfortunately, our local, state and federal system has let us down.

We know the problems, we just need to find the proper leadership to help locate and identify the right solutions.

People should always be first, property then comes second.

Our country is facing many challenges as we speak and never before has your input and participation been needed more.

We can't afford to sit back and allow this massive take over of our skies, our lives, our property values to all go down the drain.

Stay involved!

Thank you.

Gene Spanos
Resident-Volunteer
6th Ward
Park Ridge


#2 -- From the Comments

Steve Schildwachter said...

Neighbors: It seems to me that we are long overdue for a serious, public conversation about what we want Park Ridge to look like 20 years from now.

This is not about blue-ribbon commissions and visioning projects where a consultant leads the city council and city staff down a primrose path of vague language.

This is about how many primrose paths we want, how many national chain drugstores, how many local merchants, how many trees and parks -- and yes, how many historically preserved homes.

An alderman -- I don't remember which one -- said publicly a couple of years back that he wanted Uptown to resemble the Lincoln Park area of Chicago, with the same types of restaurants and businesses. I don't happen to agree, but at least he put a stake in the ground.

A related point is the discussion about how tax revenues generated from business development are supposed to keep residential property taxes lower. (Uptown has been in "business" for a while now and I don't see my property tax bill going down, folks.) Rather than seek revenue -- which is elusive anyway -- we should seek a consensus about what kind of community we want to have.

The zoning code re-write of the past year could have been such an opportunity, but frankly the city council disregards the code so frequently that it seems a poor substitute for a community model.

This is the kind of conversation we need to have; otherwise we will handle each situation individually with no clear path, primrose or paved. What do we want Park Ridge to look like 20 years from now?

September 23, 2009 8:29 AM