When Gov. Rod Blagojevich talked of selling off the Thompson Center state government building in downtown Chicago a few years ago, the idea was treated as a joke and legal action ultimately prevented him from following through.
Similar suggestions to “sell off” the Illinois State Lottery earlier this year also are failing to be taken seriously by many people, even though some have suggested the state could make some money by turning over the modern-day equivalent of the numbers racket to a private entity.
SUCH ACTIONS EVEN remind me of the dreadful attempt at a sequel to the film, “The Blues Brothers,” where one of the gags is that the Illinois state prison in which Elwood Blues is incarcerated had been turned over to a private company.
So why is it that municipal officials are taking seriously the punch line to these real life and cinematic jokes – when it comes to Midway Airport?
That appears to be the case for the one-time Chicago Municipal Airport that was later renamed after the site of a famed battle in the Pacific during the Second World War.
City Council officials next week are expected to vote on whether to accept an offer for $2.52 billion from an investment company that would then take over the daily management of the airport near the Clearing neighborhood.
WHO’S TO SAY exactly what they would get from such a deal, other than to suggest that the kind of people who get involved in such deals do so because they expect to make money. Midway Airport would go from a place that helps supplement O’Hare International Airport in serving the Chicago area’s aviation needs, to a place that will be run as cheaply as possible so that someone can maximize a profit margin.
And if that means some of the routes or services provided by Midway that serve the public, but do not do so in a way that creates enough profit, then the services have to go – regardless of the needs of the public.
Now I’m not an aviation expert, other than to note I have covered the plight of Chicago-area airports during the past two decades – particularly the way in which those two airports are packed to capacity and a third airport would help alleviate air traffic needs.
So I’m not about to guess as what cuts the Midway Investment and Development Co. would consider making in order to ensure they don’t lose money on their purchase.
MY CONCERN IS more with the concept of facilities that benefit the public being run by private entities. It is not a concept of which I am particularly fond. There are certain types of programs or facilities that are best run by the government (whether local or federal or state or whatever).
If airports were truly meant to be private places, then we’d literally have every single airline that desires to have flights in and out of Chicago building their own facilities. Airports in every single corner of Chicago would be chaos, particularly since Chicago remains a place where many airlines have flights to various parts of the country intersect.
Much of the passenger traffic that passes through O’Hare airport in particular never sees Chicago. We’re a stopover, and the airports manage to make some money for Chicago by accommodating those passengers during their brief hours within our boundaries.
In short, government entities that run the airports wind up providing a sense of balance so that competing airlines do not interfere with each other, which would cause chaos for those of us who live here. In the same way, the federal government (through the Federal Aviation Administration) keeps the various airports from interfering with each other for the protection of those of us who live in the continental United States.
SO NATURALLY, OUR city officials are considering a short-term move that would bring some cash in (alright, it would bring a lot of cash in, there’s that “b” in billion to consider).
Admittedly, this privatization of Midway Airport would be permitted under a decade-old program created by Congress – one that theoretically allows up to five airports to convert themselves to privately-run enterprises.
In theory, the governments could take the money they receive and use it to improve the facilities, while the private companies could run the places in “more efficient” ways.
Yet the problem is that an airport, like other public facilities, often has to provide access to some places that might not be the most efficient-minded destinations.
PARTICULARLY IN THE case of Chicago, which likes to think it still is the transportation hub of the nation, such destinations are needed to ensure that someone in Chicago could catch a flight to just about anywhere in the nation or the world at a moment’s notice.
Anything less, and our city’s airports might as well be Mitchell Field in Milwaukee or Indianapolis International.
A private company can cut whatever it wants, but a so-called public facility has to maintain certain levels of service – or else it’s reason for existence comes into question.
Now I am not under any delusion that Mayor Richard M. Daley, who announced the potential deal earlier this week, is going to read this commentary and suddenly see the error of his ways.
FOR ALL I know, this deal will get the rubber stamp of approval when it comes before the City Council on Wednesday of next week.
But there’s just one thing to keep in mind, even when considering that anything involving airports takes years to complete. The federal laws allowing for privatization of major airports has been in place since 1996, and has been open to any airport across the nation.
Yet none have taken advantage of it, meaning Midway would become the first private airport for commercial flights. If the action were really that wise, why didn’t other cities jump at the chance to get out of the airport management business?
Why is it that I feel that our Midway Airport, which dates back to the 1920s and was once the “world’s busiest” until O’Hare came along is being used by people with an interest in aviation as a guinea pig for the rest of the nation?
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Are certain inefficiencies in operations a part of running a useful airport (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/us/01midway.html?em), or could private business do better?
The lease agreement awaiting approval by the Chicago City Council would give control (http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2008/10/01/Chicago_leases_Midway_for_25_billion/UPI-80881222891668/) of Midway Airport to a private company for 99 years.
A Vancouver-based airport management company is among the officials included in the (http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iE1ZPxvWElKC1x1F16uU2O80aynw) proposed Midway management group.
Similar suggestions to “sell off” the Illinois State Lottery earlier this year also are failing to be taken seriously by many people, even though some have suggested the state could make some money by turning over the modern-day equivalent of the numbers racket to a private entity.
SUCH ACTIONS EVEN remind me of the dreadful attempt at a sequel to the film, “The Blues Brothers,” where one of the gags is that the Illinois state prison in which Elwood Blues is incarcerated had been turned over to a private company.
So why is it that municipal officials are taking seriously the punch line to these real life and cinematic jokes – when it comes to Midway Airport?
That appears to be the case for the one-time Chicago Municipal Airport that was later renamed after the site of a famed battle in the Pacific during the Second World War.
City Council officials next week are expected to vote on whether to accept an offer for $2.52 billion from an investment company that would then take over the daily management of the airport near the Clearing neighborhood.
WHO’S TO SAY exactly what they would get from such a deal, other than to suggest that the kind of people who get involved in such deals do so because they expect to make money. Midway Airport would go from a place that helps supplement O’Hare International Airport in serving the Chicago area’s aviation needs, to a place that will be run as cheaply as possible so that someone can maximize a profit margin.
And if that means some of the routes or services provided by Midway that serve the public, but do not do so in a way that creates enough profit, then the services have to go – regardless of the needs of the public.
Now I’m not an aviation expert, other than to note I have covered the plight of Chicago-area airports during the past two decades – particularly the way in which those two airports are packed to capacity and a third airport would help alleviate air traffic needs.
So I’m not about to guess as what cuts the Midway Investment and Development Co. would consider making in order to ensure they don’t lose money on their purchase.
MY CONCERN IS more with the concept of facilities that benefit the public being run by private entities. It is not a concept of which I am particularly fond. There are certain types of programs or facilities that are best run by the government (whether local or federal or state or whatever).
If airports were truly meant to be private places, then we’d literally have every single airline that desires to have flights in and out of Chicago building their own facilities. Airports in every single corner of Chicago would be chaos, particularly since Chicago remains a place where many airlines have flights to various parts of the country intersect.
Much of the passenger traffic that passes through O’Hare airport in particular never sees Chicago. We’re a stopover, and the airports manage to make some money for Chicago by accommodating those passengers during their brief hours within our boundaries.
In short, government entities that run the airports wind up providing a sense of balance so that competing airlines do not interfere with each other, which would cause chaos for those of us who live here. In the same way, the federal government (through the Federal Aviation Administration) keeps the various airports from interfering with each other for the protection of those of us who live in the continental United States.
SO NATURALLY, OUR city officials are considering a short-term move that would bring some cash in (alright, it would bring a lot of cash in, there’s that “b” in billion to consider).
Admittedly, this privatization of Midway Airport would be permitted under a decade-old program created by Congress – one that theoretically allows up to five airports to convert themselves to privately-run enterprises.
In theory, the governments could take the money they receive and use it to improve the facilities, while the private companies could run the places in “more efficient” ways.
Yet the problem is that an airport, like other public facilities, often has to provide access to some places that might not be the most efficient-minded destinations.
PARTICULARLY IN THE case of Chicago, which likes to think it still is the transportation hub of the nation, such destinations are needed to ensure that someone in Chicago could catch a flight to just about anywhere in the nation or the world at a moment’s notice.
Anything less, and our city’s airports might as well be Mitchell Field in Milwaukee or Indianapolis International.
A private company can cut whatever it wants, but a so-called public facility has to maintain certain levels of service – or else it’s reason for existence comes into question.
Now I am not under any delusion that Mayor Richard M. Daley, who announced the potential deal earlier this week, is going to read this commentary and suddenly see the error of his ways.
FOR ALL I know, this deal will get the rubber stamp of approval when it comes before the City Council on Wednesday of next week.
But there’s just one thing to keep in mind, even when considering that anything involving airports takes years to complete. The federal laws allowing for privatization of major airports has been in place since 1996, and has been open to any airport across the nation.
Yet none have taken advantage of it, meaning Midway would become the first private airport for commercial flights. If the action were really that wise, why didn’t other cities jump at the chance to get out of the airport management business?
Why is it that I feel that our Midway Airport, which dates back to the 1920s and was once the “world’s busiest” until O’Hare came along is being used by people with an interest in aviation as a guinea pig for the rest of the nation?
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Are certain inefficiencies in operations a part of running a useful airport (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/us/01midway.html?em), or could private business do better?
The lease agreement awaiting approval by the Chicago City Council would give control (http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2008/10/01/Chicago_leases_Midway_for_25_billion/UPI-80881222891668/) of Midway Airport to a private company for 99 years.
A Vancouver-based airport management company is among the officials included in the (http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iE1ZPxvWElKC1x1F16uU2O80aynw) proposed Midway management group.
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