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The Elk Grove Villager |
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Special South Suburban Airport Edition |
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The South Suburban Airport: A Deal That Gov. Blagojevich Can't Refuse |
fashioned an intergovernmental agreement that would allow them to establish an airport authority to build and operate the South Suburban Airport near University Park. And that two respected aviation consulting firms have concluded that the South Suburban Airport is so attractive that private investors will want to finance, design and build it. | |
| The choice for the Chicago area now is between a new airport that will cost taxpayers nothing, or a rebuilt airport that will cost taxpayers uncounted billions of dollars. | ||
| The choice is between a new airport that can be easily expanded to meet 21st Century capacity needs, without trampling on its neighbors, and one that can't. Between one that will be safe, efficient and customer friendly, and one that won't. Between one that can be built quickly, without disrupting current operations, and one that can't. | The truly regional and preferred roadmap to meeting the Chicago area's future aviation capacity needs is now within grasp: The construction of a South Suburban Airport with the kind of reasonable improvements of O'Hare that we long have recommended. No need to tear up neighborhoods, destroy cemeteries, cripple tax bases and chase away businesses. All at no cost to taxpayers. No need, during a recession, declining governmental revenues and huge deficits to raid the state treasury. For Gov. Rod Blagojevich to reject the South Suburban Airport solution would be inexplicable. And for the Federal Aviation not to clearly see the | |
| That choice was made abundantly clear recently when the Villages of Elk Grove Village, Bensenville, University Park and Park Forest announced that they have | ||
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| The South Suburban Airport's new passenger friendly terminal will include architectural features reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School of Design. | ||
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| wisdom of this choice would be a violation of the legal requirement that the most cost-effective option be selected. | It can bring economic growth to a part of the Chicago area that has badly needed it, while, according to the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, still bringing additional jobs to the northwest suburbs. | |
| The clarity of this solution was made possible by the foresightedness of Elk Grove Village and Bensenville. Under the leadership of Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson and Bensenville Village President John Geils, the communities concluded that the South Suburban Airport, near University Park, if left to the state, may never be built. For almost two decades, aviation experts and state officials were discussing a new south suburban airport as the way to keep the Chicago area the nation's premier aviation hub. The state has purchased some land, but mostly, the idea never advanced much beyond talk. | ||
| It can because it is a solution that is most beneficial for the entire region. Because it is a market-based solution, not one imposed from above by government and the big special interests. At a September 15 meeting, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., who with Congressman Henry Hyde helped craft the South Suburban Airport Coalition, praised Johnson and Geils for their vision. Representatives from more than a dozen south suburban municipalities gave the two a standing oviation for their efforts. | ||
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"We're only doing what the regional planners were supposed to do," Geils said. "The process should have required that all the alternatives for meeting the region's aviation capacity needs should have been fairly, objectively and openly weighed. The region owes the citizens of Elk Grove Village and Bensenville a debt of gratitude." "The process failed the citizens of this region, so we stepped in," Johnson said. "But we did it for more than altruistic reasons. We truly believe that if the FAA objectively analyzes the options that are available to the region, the O'Hare expansion plan will be seen for what it is - a costly, unsafe and ineffective proposal prompted, not by yearnings for the good of the region, but for the benefit of a few." |
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| That was until the northwest suburbs decided that action was preferable to talk. They brought in two prominent firms with impeccable credentials to spend a year evaluating the project. They concluded that the new airport is feasible. It can be built for millions less than the $400 million to $600 million previously estimated. Ground can be broken next year and the airport open by 2008. The airport would initially provide low-cost airline service to the 2.5 million people (more than live in the St. Louis metropolitan area) living within 45 minutes of the airport. | ||
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| Expandability is built into the new airport design to avoid overbuilding or to allow quick expansion, depending upon market demands. | ||
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A New Airport Worthy Of The Nation's Aviation Hub |
A New, No-Cost Way To Build Airports |
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| When you build a new airport from the ground up, it is easier to include the security, safety and operational demands required of the changing aviation industry and that post 9/11 circumstances demand. | Airports used to be built with a combination of taxpayer and airline funding. The problem is that in a recession, with tax revenues drying up and the airlines in serious financial trouble, the prospects for far-sighted airport construction are seriously limited.
That's the beauty of how the South Suburban Airport would be financed - entirely by private investors who see in the facility an opportunity to demonstrate to the nation how airports of the future would be built. The investors would completely finance the planning, design and construction of the airport. In turn, they would receive revenues from parking, restaurants and other concessions. Instead of airlines heavily investing in their own ticketing, baggage check and boarding areas, they would lease "common areas" at more reasonable fees. Because airlines would share these facilities, passengers would not have the aggravation of having to walk past countless, unused gates to get to their boarding areas. Free of the burden of having to build the airports, airlines will realize significant financial savings-making the per-seat cost of using the airport significantly less than O'Hare and other established airports. Airlines, especially those in bankruptcy, would be hard pressed to explain to their shareholders why they would pass up such a deal. Our Business Partners Upon creation of an airport authority, the competitive bidding process will begin for contractors to finance, design and build the airport. |
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| The new airport will be a jewel, incorporating customer friendly design features that will speed the air traveler through baggage check-in, security and onto the plane. It will be designed with the popular new, smaller regional jets in mind, allowing passengers to board through all-weather "bridges," unlike most airports now. | ||
| Initially, it would have a single, 10,000-foot runway and a terminal with five gates. No major highway improvements would be needed at first. Depending upon demands, the facility could be expanded to 32 gates in 2018 and 60 gates in 2023. The airport would have cargo-handling facilities with easy access to runways and space for light manufacturing that is dependent upon air express. Metra and high-speed rail could have on-airport stations. | ||
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Our South Suburban Partners |
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| We have partnered with University Park and Park Forest to draft an intergovernmental agreement to be submitted immediately to each community's village board for approval. That will allow the communities to create, under state law, a south suburban airport authority, to let the contracts. As many as 20 other south suburbs have passed resolutions supporting the South Suburban Airport, near University Park, along with other communities that have been invited to sign the intergovernmental agreement. | ||
| The airport authority would purchase or lease the airport land from the state and receive payments from the private airport operator. Not a penny of local, state or federal money will be used to build the airport. Elk Grove Village and Bensenville will recover their seed money investment in the project with interest of prime plus 2%. | ||
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Why a South Suburban Airport is Key to our Future |
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| The South Suburban Airport will provide our region with the additional capacity required to meet our current and future needs. Chicago and the suburbs represent the 2nd largest metropolitan region in the United States. New York is the largest metro area and multiple airports serve it, the same holds true for Los Angeles, the 3rd largest metro area. It is time for metropolitan Chicago to be served with more than 2 airports as well. |
will have a 15.5% job increase in business growth with the South Suburban Airport. The South Suburban Airport is a positive attribute for the region bringing even more business growth to our area. • Elk Grove Village is supportive of the modernization of O'Hare with new terminals, wider runways, and western access. We have always supported a strong and viable O'Hare with western access and a ring road on the west side of O'Hare, with the ring road located on airport property that does not take property from Elk Grove Village. Elk Grove Village was constructed with O'Hare Airport in mind. We planned our community around O'Hare Airport in its current configuration. There have long been improvements planned for O'Hare, including new terminals, western access and a by-pass expressway that do not decimate the tax base of Elk Grove Village. Those plans need to be implemented in conjunction with the South Suburban Airport. The South Suburban Airport is needed to strengthen our region, our community, and our way of life. This airport is the only viable plan to meet the needs of our business community in conjunction with O'Hare improvements that do not financially harm Elk Grove businesses or residents. |
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| Please consider the following: | ||
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• The South Suburban Airport will relieve air traffic congestion, delays and back-ups at O'Hare Airport |
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| • The South Suburban Airport will prevent traffic gridlock in our region. Imagine the traffic in our area with an expanded O'Hare but no expansion to our roadway system. With the South Suburban Aiport, our roads will be saved from the added traffic gridlock. | ||
| • The South Suburban Airport, near University Park, will economically improve southern Cook County and that reduces our tax burden. The northern suburbs are currently paying higher taxes to make up for the economically depressed areas of the southern suburbs. The South Suburban Airport will improve the economic well-being of southern Cook County and relieve the high tax burden we pay to cover the south suburbs. | ||
| • The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission projects that Elk Grove Village | ||
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