Chicago Tribune | Daley rips up Meigs runways in surprise raid: Chicago’s Mayor took backhoes and bulldozers to the small lakefront airfield in downtown Chicago in a nighttime suprise strike intended to bring the doctrine of shock and awe home to the Gold Coast, multiple sources report.
I thought this was some wildly excellent April Fools joke when I saw it on a link from the just-bought-by-Google MetaFilter.
Chicagoans, what do you have to say for yourselves? This is political ridiculousness of a scale that can only be described as, well, Chicagoan. As such, I congratulate you for continuing to uphold the great tradition of high entertainment value in political news from your fair city.
Oh, the recriminations will be a thing of beauty! Destroying an airfield in wartime! The airfield that just happens to be the place that the really, really rich use to visit Chi-town! Hilarity will ensue!
As you might imagine, this has been the source of much discussion here.
Apparently BossJr was well within his legal rights to do this – he’d paid the FAA back any money owed for some past debts, gave them the requisite minimum notice, etc. At least, that is what I hear.
It’s a beautiful power play, showing that the Mayor can do whatever he wants to when he wants. You can see the spinoffs now. “WhiteSox? You really need to do something about that garish overhang to the highway. No, really. You -need- to do something about it. Or I’ll help you. I’m counting back from 10. Ten. Nine…” (sound of backhoes…)
Daley’s last fit was that Disneyworld had received a no-fly zone, but Chicago hadn’t. He cinched that up last week.
Of course, wasn’t this the canonical start point for the early MSFT FlightSims?
Well obviously the tactics he used were, umm, a little heavy-handed. One expects a temper tantrum from a benevolent dictator from time to time, and this is what we get.
Rumor has it that he wants a park there. It’s close to his house, so I expect Richie’s wants a park where he can play.
I’ll certainly miss the planes taking off and landing when I’m down by the Planetarium (that dome thingie in your picture). That’s one of the cooler parts of going down that way. And the beach is nice too…
This doesn’t bother me nearly as much as his desire to put wrought iron fencing on EVERYTHING in the city. I guess his wife likes it, so all 3 million of it get to share her tastes.
Honestly, that is totally fucking ridiculous.
I live right under the primary approach path for SeaTac. In a word, I want MY no-fly zone. Dammit.
Daley can be summed up in one word….pussy. OR should I say, pussywhipped? Hey, how about his wife tell him to get on all fours, bark like a dog, and get her the newspaper while she whips and spanks him while calling him a bad little puppy.
Not that anyone I know will miss Meigs Field, of course. It really was an airport for the rich. The only disadvantage is we’ll be tripping over a pile of disoriented rich people at O’Hare now (“Can I get a cashmere liner for my frozen yogurt cup?”) If they make it into a park, so much the better. And you can’t beat this whole incident for sheer surreal entertainment value.
Whoops, except Brian. I guess he’ll miss it. š