Story thread · 3 reports / 2 sources

The Rundown: When a Chicago mayor demolished an airport

wbez.org · 3dShare

Good afternoon. It’s Friday, and the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Here’s what you need to know today. 1. Mayor Daley’s argument that he shuttered Meigs Field out of post-9/11 security concerns never seemed credible As concertgoers stream onto Northerly Island this weekend to catch a show by South Side rapper Chief Keef at an outdoor theater, they may not realize planes used to take off and land there at a little airport called Meigs Field, my colleague Robert Herguth reports. With a single runway and a stubby control tower, the general aviation airfield occupied the artificial island starting in the late 1940s. The space ultimately catered to aviation enthusiasts, businesspeople and government employees wanting easy access to the Loop through jets, prop planes and choppers. In 2003, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley abruptly closed the airfield by quietly ordering heavy machinery to carve giant X marks in the 3,900-foot-long runway, rendering the site inoperable. There wa

First report: Mayor Daley's argument that he shuttered Meigs Field out of post-9/11 security concerns never seemed credible — suntimes.com, 4d