Letter To The Editor: Peotone Airport

Letter to the Editor: Peotone Airport

George Ochsenfeld / February 2, 2012 / Views: 509 / 3 Comments

Kudos to Will County Board Chairman Jim Moustis for speaking out in defense of Will County! (http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/10112376-418/will-county-official-takes-airport-fight-to-quinn-you-will-not-dump-on-us.html)

At a recent board meeting, Moustis declared that the county would not allow Governor Quinn and other state officials to forcefully impose upon the county an airport controlled by Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. It appears that Quinn may soon attempt to do so.

I urge County Executive Larry Walsh and the Will County board to show some real courage and oppose the project entirely, instead of merely wanting to control it themselves. They should reconsider their position in light of current trends in the aviation industry. According to a January 14, 2012 article in the Pantagraph, (http://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/critics-say-peotone-destined-to-be-illinois-second-midamerica/articlecfe8f058-3f1d-11e1-ac05-001871e3ce6c.html) in the past five years, there has been a 10 percent drop in the number of people flying in and out of the state's nine main airports, American Airlines recently joined the rest of the major carriers in bankruptcy, and Southwest is reducing it's flights.

Also, respected aviation consultant Michael Boyd recently garnered widespread media attention when he denounced the Peotone project as being an unneeded, politically driven boondoggle which would be a repeat of the barely used downstate MidAmerica airport, which he describes as a "monument to dishonest planning." MidAmerica lost nearly $12 million in 2010. (Pantagraph, January 14, 2012.)

Another expert, Daniel Rust, a commercial air travel expert and assistant director for Undergraduate Program Development at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said recently that there is not a need for new airports and that there is a high probability that Peotone would end up like the MidAmerica airport. (http://thesouthern.com/news/local/flight-to-nowhere/article14f5b5ca-3f3a-11e1-b595-0019bb2963f4.html)

It has always been STAND's position that an airport at Peotone would have far more negative than positive impacts on Will County. It's absolute madness for any elected official to be supporting this project.

George Ochsenfeld,

President of STAND

(Shut This Airport Nightmare Down)

Monee

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Cheril HAINES

on March 31, 2012 at 10:30

Add my name to the list. We don't use the airport downstate that is maintained for what?

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JACK COCKRUM

on March 30, 2012 at 16:26

SOUTH SUBURBAN AIRPORT. NOT WANTED NOT NEEDED, ONLY FEW ELECTED OFFICIALS WANT. WILL WASTE A LOT OF MONEY AND TAKE UP TOO MUCH LAND. THESE PEOPLE SHOULD LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE WANT.. GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF OFFICE.

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Ryan Buzelli

on March 27, 2012 at 17:00

This is a petition to stop the South Suburban Airport. Please sign and send to all supporters that oppose this project.http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no-south-suburban-airport/

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Letter To The Editor: Peotone Airport