Emanuel accused of playing hide the ball on O'Hare runway deal

Mayor Rahm Emanuel was accused this week of playing hide the ball with Northwest Side residents bombarded by O'Hare Airport jet noise.

Alderman Anthony Napolitano demanded to know why Emanuel made no mention of the $1.3 billion deal he had cut with major airlines to build the final runway at O'Hare when he met just two days before that deal was announced with the anti-noise Fair Allocation in Runways Coalition.

During the long-awaited City Hall meeting, Emanuel ruled out saving two diagonal runways slated for demolition that FAIR wants the city to keep and use at night and during off-peak hours to soften the blow of dramatic O'Hare flight-path changes that hit in October 2013.

Using the diagonals at those times would help avoid repeatedly bombarding the same neighborhoods with jet noise. As many as 63,000 Chicago area residents a month have complained about the new barrage of noise since the flight path changes, FAIR contends.

Instead of being upfront about the runway deal he was about to announce, Emanuel slammed the door on saving the diagonal runways without explaining why.

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