It
was amusing to see the arrival of President Barack Obama for a couple of days
of activity this week in the Midwest.
The
president will be in Princeton, Ind., at a steel mill on Friday, following a
day of activity in Chicago and suburban Evanston in part to prop up the
campaign of Gov. Pat Quinn.
YET
ALL THIS began Wednesday night when Obama arrived on Air Force One at the
airport in Gary, Ind. (which likes to give itself the impressive-sounding
Gary/Chicago International Airport even though the number of flights operating
there is miniscule).
Much
has been made of the fact that the airport was used because of the fire at the
FAA facility in Aurora that still causes disruptions at O’Hare International
and Midway airports. The president didn’t want to cause anything that could be
construed by the ideologues as more congestion at either of those airports.
So
his flight landed at Gary, where he immediately got into a helicopter that
wound up taking him into Chicago and transporting him for much of his trip in
the metropolitan area.
Although
the fact that he was only in Gary for a few minutes didn’t stop that city’s
mayor, Karen Freeman-Wilson, and Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., from greeting Obama
at the Hoosier airport and acting as though this was a trip to Indiana rather
than just a quick transfer point.
THE
MAYOR MADE comments to the press about how it only makes sense for the
president to use the Gary airport when traveling to Chicago, on account of the
fact that it is our city’s third airport.
Even
though some of us want to cling to the idea of a third airport being built in
what is now farm field in rural Will County just north of Peotone, others of us
would want to see a new airport built anywhere but south of the city, and still
others of us would rather there be no new airport.
Either
because they want a massive expansion of O’Hare International or because they’d
rather just discourage more flights passing through the Chicago area – not realizing
the degree to which that would devastate the metropolitan area and turn Chicago
from something that can be talked about along with New York and Los Angeles to
something that more resembles Indianapolis or Des Moines, Iowa.
Personally,
I always thought an expansion of that Gary facility would have made sense. It
is a shame that officials couldn’t reach some understanding a couple of decades
ago to move in that direction when trying to figure out a site for a new
Chicago-area airport.
BUT
WAY TOO many political people felt like then-Secretary of State George Ryan,
who came right out and said he could not, in good conscience, vote to support
any new airport located in Indiana. Even though one can note that the New York
metro area’s third airport is based out of Newark, N.J. – and no one seems
bothered by that fact!
The
end result is that the Gary facility kind of lingers in limbo. It seems like we’re
always reading stories about cut-rate airlines operating a few flights out of
the airport (remember Hooters Air?), only to shut them down a few months later
when a lack of significant passengers develops for their use.
Who’s
to say if Chicago ever will have a third airport? Will this issue linger for
another few decades of inactivity?
Did
the president wind up giving an inadvertent advertising plug for those people
who promote the idea of Gary (designated as airport GYY) as a part of Chicago’s
transportation infrastructure? Or was Wednesday just the moment Mayor Freeman
got to shake hands with the president?
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