O’Hare plans leave suburbs out

Daily Herald Editorial Board

Both sides give a little and get a little. That’s how you negotiate the end of a feud, even one as lengthy, costly and messy as the battle over O’Hare expansion.

That’s how the war between the city of Chicago and suburbs near O’Hare International Airport ended in 2009. The suburbs dropped their battle against new runways for the expectation of a glitzy new terminal on the airport’s west side, with its promise to bring a Rosemont-like business and entertainment boom to the Western suburbs.

It was a civilized solution, setting the stage for some forward movement to upgrade one of the city’s and the suburbs’ biggest economic engines.

But since then, that deal’s gotten pretty one-sided.

A new runway is becoming reality, with heavy equipment bulldozing former suburban houses and bodies being disinterred from a pre-Civil War cemetery to make way for the concrete that’s being laid for future use by 737s and MD-80s.

The new western terminal? Its future is very uncertain, as Daily Herald staff writer Marni Pyke reported Monday. After the whole expansion project threatened to implode in a recent disagreement between the city and airlines over costs, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and United and American airlines reached a different deal brokered by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The suburbs were left out of the discussion, and our interests dropped off the table. The western terminal remains in the plan but it isn’t funded, and that won’t be revisited until at least 2013. Even then, says the Chicago Department of Aviation, the only money for it is going to have to come from airlines, presumably not including United and American, who oppose the terminal. Talk about a back burner.

It’s not exactly the win-win we expected. In fact, a decade ago when the likes of former Bensenville Mayor John Geils and a coalition of Cook and DuPage county towns were fighting airport expansion, this particular outcome would have been viewed as a sizable loss for the suburbs.

So what’s next?

Suburban leaders must find a way to press for better inclusion in the expansion plans. Shifting economics might well change the scope of the entire project, but suburban leaders need to have stronger roles in making those decisions, and our state and federal representatives — especially U.S. Sens. Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin — must make sure that’s the case.

Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, meanwhile, needs to remember the suburbs’ major concession in agreeing to runway expansion at O’Hare. He needs to honor the city of Chicago’s commitment and show good faith in working to hear and include the suburban interests in plans for the airport.