Why Chicago Secretly Bulldozed Its Own Airport Overnight
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Subscribe to Nebula at go.nebula.tv/hai
Watch Crime Spree Episode 1: nebula.app/vid...
Watch Crime Spree Episode 2: nebula.app/vid...
Northerly Island photo courtesy timreillycreati...
Get a Half as Interesting t-shirt: standard.tv/co...
Suggest a video and get a free t-shirt if we use it: halfasinteresti...
Follow Sam from Half as Interesting on Instagram: / sam.from.wendover
Follow Half as Interesting on Twitter: / halfinteresting
Discuss this video on Reddit: / halfasinteresting
Video written by Adam Chase
weirdly the craziest part to me was that he did it to build a park. a evil mayor secretly destroying a park to build a private airport for the elite makes so much more sense.
it’s like an alternate version of who framed roger rabbit
Right? Doing all this to build a park for the public actually makes it pretty justified. Screw an elite private airport
Getting rid of an airport that annoyed him and replacing it with a park that would increase his own property value seems more expected though.
@@danieljensen2626 Sure, but it was a win for everyone else except the private airplane rich people. The question is why Republican governors cared so much for an airport that added little economic value to the state or city and sat on top of a hugely valuable piece of real state? Could it be it was a convenience for a dozen rich patrons? That sounds even more evil to me. I am glad they built that park.
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
The X’s on the runway are the standard method of indicating that a runway is closed and should not be used for flight operations. They need to be large in order to fill their intended purpose, which is to be seen by pilots during their approach and landing circuit. I’m a private pilot (though I haven’t flown in years)
EDIT: The Xs would normally be painted on, however as paint can be removed and a runway reopened, the mayor carved them in to permanently close the runway.
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
But closing a runway requires announcement, and the Xs are generally painted on, or crossed with plastic strips. It isnt dug out rendering the runway inoperable, especially not with no warning and aircraft still on the field.
so you 'were' a pilot ;-)
@@henk-3098 Just like I was a car driver because I'm not currently operating a motor vehicle.
You need to work on your definitions.
@changed view SPAM, no relevance at all, congrats on wasting peoples time...
I love the fact that his whole nefarious goal was to build... a park. You know, the standard supervillain motivation -- public works improvement.
@changed view I didn’t miss it, I dodged it.
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
Honestly yea, sure the guy totes was rly just doin it bcuz of the noise pollution that he disliked livin near but honestly his plan for it was a major good thing.
Change an eyesore on the landscape that generates noise pollution and mostly exists as a rich person's playground to go have fun while billowing tons of CO2 into the air for no reason other than bcuz they want to... into a park that is open to all residents and is situated in an area with rly scenic views and cool coastal air from the cool coastal waters to make it even more enticin of a park destination in hotter months.
As someone who hates noisy environments bcuz of a thing called auditory processing disorder and just the fact that too many or too loud of noises sends me into sensory overload and can cause me to just shutdown and cover my ears while in the fetal position... I for one wud welcome more airports being replaced with public parks.
Have you heard of Robert Moses? He is basically the Pengiun, except for parks and infrastructure.
Parks aren't free from harm. They're often used to block housing, block competition, and all sorts of NIMBYism.
Daly's primary goal was to shut down the airport to increase his property values.
The Park was there for PR cover
1:20 I can confirm as an Illinois resident not only is this statement accurate it’s well timed too with yet another IL politician getting indicted this week on 22 counts of racketeering.
Last week we also had a state senator resign to accept a federal plea deal on 40 counts of embezzlement!
Doesn't Illinois have a politician get indicted pretty much every week. LOL.
Yes Illinois is very corrupt, the funny thing is that I never even knew that Northerly Island is a park now despite passing it countless times to visit the museums in the area
The unofficial motto is, "Land where your politicians make your license plates."
Soooooo.. When you guys going to indite pritzker for something. Get that fucking crook out!
I was obsessed with Microsoft flight sim in the 90s and aviation in general. My brother and I even started what turned into the second biggest virtual airline. It was called Meridian. Was around for a long time, i think up until like 2010. I joined the air force in 2001 and had no association after that.
@changed view 🖕🖕
@changed view 👎🏼
miscrosoft air simulator- secret usaf recruiting tool?
That's awesome. I was a virtual Captain with Meridian back in the day. Thanks for giving me a goal to achieve rather than just flying around with nowhere to go.
@@9HighFlyer9 nice that's awesome! Yeah I was obsessed with it. I'm excited that someone out there remembers it! It turned into a pretty big thing actually. But yeah a lot of time went into developing it. Looking back though, I'm actually quite proud of what we put together and what it became. I'm surprised it was around for a long as it was too.
There was also a plane that had an emergency and landed on the grass by Meigs shortly after it got destroyed. The mayor then accused the pilot of purposely having an emergency to embarrass him and make him look bad.
That's ridiculous
@changed view SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM....sad life you have....SPAM, SPAM, SPAM…Glorious SPAM
@@hristosmourselas3939 is it really ridiculous?
Do I have to remind you of the time a TH-camr (allegedly) deliberately crashed his plane for cloud?
@@syxepop tell me does it have anything remotely to do with the topic of the closure of Meigs Field? No? Then what else is it but spam interjected into a conversation tree. Also leave the Muslim part out, I made no reference to that at all, that is your projection not mine.
@@AMD7027 - I saw the video (had to see it to DISLIKE it) and it seems they're really Muslim (not from a particular country) by the "vibe" it gives.
At least the BOT was not reading quotes from the Quran like a couple of SPAM LINKS I have seen. TO EACH ITS OWN....
(it is still NOT related to the theme at hand and still SPAM, I would denounce it even if it had Protestant or Catholic vibes, BTW)
I think this guy mixed up being a Cities Skylines mayor with being a real mayor.
"but look at all the green smiley faces! Clearly I done good!"
Also the only other place you're likely to find pilots being told to divert due to a mayor destroying their destination airport.
This was 2003. Back then, we pronounced it "Sim City."
Pulled a classic CPP move by invoking "eminent domain" lol.
Destroying an airport without authorization and under cover of darkness, just because the crooked mayor doesn't like living next to an airport -- yeah, that sounds about right for Chicago politics.
An airport that made the city hundreds of millions of dollars that made the lakefront safer. Now I can fly right on the lakefront at 2,000' agl without talking to anyone.
I can't believe anyone is questioning this. Chicago has a sterling reputation of being above the board on everything, since long before prohibition.
@@RobertLBarnard LOL!
Just remember, if you talk about corruption that isn't at least 10 years old, you're a conspiracy theorist.
@@communismisadisease4498 bonespurs lost again!
If a Chicago mayor one day orders a demolition crew to sneak into the park in the dead of night and carve a bunch of unsightly X shaped eyesores into it in order to build an airport there.. it will become a truly epic story.
I MUST RUN FOR MAYOR OF CHICAGO.
What park? There is no park there. The "park" was just a lie to try and generate sympathy.
@@HiddenWindshield Not sure what you are on about, but there very much is a park there.
@@CarthagoMike After some more research, it would seem that there are a few walking trails and a pavilion there. Not *nearly* what was promised by Daley, but enough of a park that I guess @Danny Pipe Wrench could carve some X's on it if they wanted.
@@dannypipewrench533 I WILL MOVE TO CHICAGO AND VOTE FOR YOU
The Illinois politician joke at 1:20 is extremely topical since the past couple of weeks a member of the state legislature was indicted on federal charges (resigned as state speaker last year) , and another pleaded guilty last and he was a state senator
*Edited for clarification and a correction
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
The resignations don't surprise me. IL has gone too woke and now the repercussions are radiating outward from the dumpster fire that is Chicago.
Sorry, let me rephrase the comment to get the point across more clearly. They resigned due to criminal charges.
@@Fun_Dips This has been a problem for decades. This is not a new thing, stop trying to sensationalize actual instiutional problems
You are mistaken. Tom Cullerton was the state senator who pled guilty. The Cullerton who was previously State Senate leader was John Cullerton. They are distant cousins.
The Cullerton family has been involved in politics since Edward Cullerton was elected to the Chicago City City Council in 1871. For a cumulative 112 years, there was at least one Cullerton on the city council.
Also, you could have noted that Daley’s own nephew, a city council member was just convicted of fraud.
I am a pilot, and I had landed at Meigs Field many times before its destruction. It provided such convenient access to the city, literally putting you in walking distance of the Magnificent Mile. It provided spectacular views of the city on landing and take-off. It was such a gem.
There are not many people I have hoped would suffer a slow, painful death, but Mr. Daley made it onto my prestigious list.
- Martin
It’s great for pilots but terrible for residence
@@JL_Lux I would argue that Meigs was better than most airports in this regard since the approach and departure was over water, not over residential areas. Today I fly to Midway instead, and takes me low over people's houses and backyards instead of over water.
There was a small airport in Holland Michigan that only small planes could fly in and out of, it never caused any trouble, there were never noise complaints and I think it was pretty cool to see airshows very often and so close to home. About a year ago one of Holland Michigan's billionaires paid city council off and convinced them the tiny municipal airport was causing lots of issues, it was swiftly destroyed; I really hate people in power sometimes.
I was living in Chicago when Daly pulled this stunt. His late-wife was one of the driving forces behind turning Meigs Field into a park. Daly did claim that this was in response to 9-11, but the FAA and HSA had already ruled that the airport could stay open. Business leaders in in downtown Chicago were furious since they could no longer fly in and out of Chicago mere blocks from their offices. When the Capone crime family faded away, the Daly family picked up where they left off. Hell, when I lived there we had two ex-governors in prison at the same time. Chicago is an awesome town tainted by the unbridled greed and corruption of its civic leaders.
When a Chicago mayor demonstrates his corruptness, why do Chicagoans happily reelect him?
If the level of corruption is "tear down airport to make park" rather than "tear down park to make airport/condo/publicly funded stadium" then they can be as corrupt as they want
@@adamcoe This is one of/the 'good' examples of their use of corruption. A bit like how corrupt police _may_ forge documents to get a criminal off the street, the _may_ also beat an innocent to death and cover it up. One act of corruption does not undo or cover up another.
@adamcoe
so it's not corrupt or illegal as long as you say so. Got it.
Imagine actually believing that two Chicago politicians aren't related. 🤷♂️
Actually they are father and son.
@@richardwasserman r/woosh
Literally says in the video on screen “they’re very much related”
This sounds like the plot of a movie, and I now absolutely need it to be.
Totally agree!
And I love your pfp!
Honestly, I don't know if there is enough source material for a movie. Maybe it could be the A plot in an episode of a show.
@@raney150 make a Short Movie
having my state called out for corruption brings me masochistic joy :D
There's a reason it's called the Windy City
@@BirbBoiYT and it ain't the weather.
@Hernando Malinche Not from the Google Maps image I just saw. Thing's got more asphalt on it now than it did as an airport! And the "grassy" end looks kinda like a swamp...
It is also pretty close to Grant Park and Millennium Park. On top of that you have to go past an NFL stadium, a museum, planetarium, and an aquarium. Also there is an ampitheater in part of it.
I was once dispatched to pick up a patient-passenger from a holiday med-evac. Whilst en route to the small airport we got a call to drive to another airport because the small airport filed for bankruptcy whilst planes were on their way to them.
Sounds kind of similar to a story my Mom told me not about an airport going bankrupt but an airline. A friend of hers went to an airport to catch a Braniff airlines flight only to find out the airline folded that morning and basically left him (and many other people) stranded
Oof lol
@@whaduzitmatr rip flight
Reminds me of when I showed up to see a movie and the theater was out of business. They had their schedule for the day posted online like usual. Granted it was one of those small, like 4 screen joints but still. What did they just wake up one morning and realize they were bankrupt ?
My attempt to get in to bowling was Kafka shit. One time the old pro shop guy made fun of my ball for being obsolete and that it would mess up the polisher and the floors. The next time I went to that alley there was a paper taped to the door saying it was under receivership and a locksmith was changing the locks.
I was once taking an on-line quiz about airport markings. One of the questions asked what do yellow Xs at the ends of a runway mean, while showing a picture of the destroyed runway at Meigs. The correct answer, of course, was "the runway is closed."
One of the distractors was "Mayor Daley is an asshole."
That's the answer I picked even though I knew it was not the answer they had specified as being correct.
(EDIT: Changed the short and economical word "wrong" to the more verbose "not the answer..." because some people insist on misinterpreting it as my defending Hizzonna's actions. Frankly, he was as much of a crook as his dad was but without the charisma and panache, and I'm speaking as a former Chicago Democrat.)
I think anyone that knows anything about aviation would do the same!
exactly, Mayor Daley was correct, thank you.
@@jdlmmf
The answer “Mayer Daley is an asshole” is correct*
I have so many memories from 1983 on my commodore-64 taking off from Meig's Field and exploring (a very blocky) Chicago and yet I found I knew the whole geography of the city back then just from that. Then there were updates to FS and it continued. It's a treasure not just to Chicago but some of us that were never in Chicago and yet knew it only because of Meigs.
To be fair...I remember walking down Lake Shore Drive and seeing the unsightly airport thinking "Why is there not a park there?"
It’s videos like this that make me wish that TH-cam blew up earlier than it did… in 2011 (my 5th grade year), our school took a field trip to Shedd Aquarium, which just so happens to be RIGHT NEXT to the crime scene
I love how they kept the tradition of using fictional characters as mayors of Chicago
I know dozens of people with small planes and most of them are not rich elite. You can buy a light aircraft for $30-40K which is less than many new cars.
True, but most small plane owners in the Chicago area used the other dozen airfields that were a lot less expensive. Only a few corporations actually used it.
@@CortexNewsService those corporations bring business to the cesspool called Chicago
Yeah but how much is storing, maintaining, and fuelling it? It is a rich person toy.
Fun fact: this airport is also featured in Need for Speed: Pro Street (where it is simply named ”Chicago Airfield”).
...and it's among the best tracks in that game! Makes me wish Indycar raced there for real...
I was in college in Chicago the night that this happened. People were NOT happy.
I used to fly into Meigs field back in the mid to late 1990's quite often. I recall the landings being a little treacherous due to the cross winds inherent with the direction of the runway. But there was no better way to get to Chicago and having a car waiting for you on the tarmac and being so close to so many business and family attractions.
The last time I flew into Meigs was an unplanned stop just days after 9/11. I was heading to Iowa City and we were diverted unexpectedly by the FAA/tower control. After three hours of sitting there I was finally told that the owner of the charter service company was from the Middle East and that raised a lot of red flags. Eventually, we took off and I never been back.
I hope the park makes it but so far it reminds me of Detroit's Belle Isle in that it's just a great place to go to take pictures but not many of the locals really care to go there.
Not to worry... the park will make a great open-air marketplace for drugs, guns and various stolen goods.
@@sootikins Do you just... not like parks or something? What a bizarre set of concerns to jump to.
@@PhysicsGamer You are very naive.
@@sootikins Between the two of us I don't think the "naive" one is the one who has a positive view of parks.
I bet that mayor was great at playing Cities Skylines. Really boosted the local property value/ happiness by deleting a air port in one night and follow it up with a park once revenue rebounded.
Far from only being used by a few rich people, I'd read that Meigs Field was actually the busiest single-runway airport in the entire US. It would take a variety of use cases to make that happen, methinks.
Lindbergh Field in San Diego may have a rebuttal to that.
I love how the excuse of "for safety" completely falls apart because removing the airport meant the tower was gone making downtown Chicago uncontrolled airspace.
Why was the video about North Korea unlisted (0:45)? What made people mad?
I don't know, I guess north Korea is a controversial conversation starter
State approved haircuts
If you were flying the SR71, you crashed well before you left the runway, let alone making it to Lake Michigan.
Were there planes in the sim that needed longer runways than a small airport, meaning you skipped the takeoff part and went straight from the runway to the water?
@@Br3ttM Airliners, 747 especially.
@@Br3ttM They landed an actual 727 at Meigs, it did not leave by air.
"but hey - if you don't use political influence to advance your own self interest, are you really an Illinois politician?" with the wiki page listing Illinois politicians convicted of crimes ... savage. I'm dead
Daley family just joined the list. Daley’s nephew, a city council member, was convicted the other week
i played msfs from fs98 to fsx which was impossible to run back then, i just remember trying to take off in a 747 from meigs and ending up in the water
My grandma has always been livid about this.
Did she have a private plane? Why did she care?
@@JL_Lux I've never been able to understand that, actually. She's kind of a neurotic mess.
Turning a small airfield used by wealthy residents with private planes into a public park isn't the action of an evil mayor.
I flew there a couple of times back in the day for someone doing business in the city. It was very convenient for general aviation aircraft compared to Midway, for example.
How do you figure?
0:16 that literally describes my early days on fs2002
You're not kidding about Meigs field being the long-standing default airport.
I remember that from when I had Sub-Logic Flight Simulator on the Apple 2. That is, before it was sold to Microsoft.
Meigs Field occupied priceless public land on Chicago's lakefront, but it served an elite few. Unlike a lot of big cities, Chicago has a legacy of preserving its lakefront for public use with miles of parkland. (Montgomery Ward, the founder of the department store that bore his name, was largely responsible for spearheading this.) After years of delays, the city had every right to replace this eyesore with a park that all could enjoy. Destroying Meigs Field was one of the best things either Daley ever did.
ignoring the fact it didnt server the rich.
It served middle class people who saved to get a plane (which is totaly affordable for said middle class, its sometimes cheaper then a new car even)
it served hospitals for organ transports.
It also served the public in not congesting midway or o'hare airport with small low speed prop planes.
it was also far less "problematic" as aproach and departure where over water......
Now we just need a mayor to carve Xs in the park to turn it into an airport >:D
MAKE MEIGS 2.0 A REALITY
Meigs Field and other General Aviation airfields are NOT just for the elite. In fact, the beauty of these types of airports are that they are in fact open for everyone, no matter if they are an elite using it to get to/from meetings, someone just learning to fly in a flight school, or anyone in between. These airports are essential to both the local economy in that they bring in people and resources directly to the surrounding area, and the overall aviation infrastructure in both providing safe areas for aircraft to land in an emergency, and to teach the next generation of pilots that go on to join the airlines. Big airports like O'Hare and Midway, while important for Commercial Aviation, are just too big and busy to support these needs. Airfields like Meigs are fighting a constant battle for their existence, because people either think that they could use the land for "better" uses, or because people move near the airport and then complain that there is an airport there making noise. I highly recommend the documentary "One Six Right" which focuses primarily on Van Nuys airport, although the same issues are affecting countless airfields nationwide. It does a great job of demonstrating the history of an airfield, why it is such an important asset to the community, and that once they are gone they generally cannot be replaced. Meigs Field didn't take away land from the city, in fact it was land created specifically for the airfield, in a space that allowed aircraft to safely operate over water without any danger to the nearby city. Daley single-handedly chose to demolish this amazing asset, stranding multiple aircraft that (contrary to this video) had to be trucked out of the city, all just to create a park that he would name after his own wife. Even almost 20 years later, many of us in the aviation community shed a tear whenever we are reminded of what happened to Meigs Field, because many of us were not only first introduced to the airfield in Flight Simulator, but also saw it as the most public example of the plight many are facing with their own local airfields. There is so much colorful language I could say about Richard Daley, but instead I choose remember the once great airfield known as Meigs.
Live in Chicago and love that park. Pretty grateful this happened tbh
Wait til your rights are violated
Over a dozen doctors flew their small planes to Meigs for a conference in Chicago. I was FAA and I briefed the last pilot to depart in his Cessna Centurion. The FAA allowed (via a Notice to Airmen) the taxiway to be used for departure even though they had not done the normal survey work to prove it was safe and obstacle-free and actually SAFE.
We speculated that the park would eventually be the site of a casino.
I didn’t realize Adam Chase wrote for Half as Interesting!!! Can’t believe it!! That’s amazing!! I think we need a Danger Zone episode!!
Now I want to hear about North Korean haircuts...
As questionable as the motives and methods may have been, I do still have an appreciation for Daley's matter-of-fact explanation from a press conference some time later:
"To do this any other way would have been needlessly contentious,"
Airport generated 300-500 million in revenue on an annual basis. Controlled lake front airspace making the city and it's skies safer. Today it makes 55k. As cash strapped as the city is, this was a brilliant move that cost the city millions in fines, millions more in demolition, and billions in lost revenue. Absolutely brilliant. Go polish your bean.
I can see a couple of people claiming that figure, but who exactly calculated it and what methodology did they use?
It may have generated that amount though I highly doubt it. More importantly though almost none of that went to the city. Not saying this was a smart move but pretending it somehow cost the city hundreds of millions is ridiculous.
@@XMysticHerox airport was owned by the city. The land the airport was on was owned by the park district. In the late 80's when Daley took office there was scheduled airline service from a couple different commuter airlines.
@@ernies7174 That does not mean the airport makes hundreds of millions for the city. Also the city still has an airport. It´s not like this would suddenly remove the demand for those flights.
@@XMysticHerox there are flights that happened at Meigs Field that simply cannot happen at large airports like O'Hare and Midway, simply because they are both too expensive and too busy. And honestly I would put the $300-$500 Million in the conservative estimates for the overall revenue the airfield brought to the City as as whole. And not just to the government, but to the local businesses and those living and working in the area. It was quite frankly the easiest way for someone to get to Chicago, go run errands or do whatever, and be heading back home before the end of the day. Now the best option is to fly into the outskirts and be at the mercy of the train schedule.
He actually wanted to build a casino. The only reason it's a park now is because the Illinois Supreme Court stopped him from building the casino.
Chicago's mayor: *destroys his own airport*
Chicago's mayor: "my goals are beyond your understanding"
I first heard about this years ago in the documentary One Six Right. The shit people in power get away with is disgusting.
@1:20 In One Six Right they said it was because his wife wanted a park named after her and the air port tried to compromise offered to just name the airport after her but nope; he pulled this shady shit.
"Are you really an Illinois politician?"
As an Illinois resident, I can confirm this is true. I actually laughed out loud and I'm alone.
I was listening to this without watching and was about to comment how they are MOST DEFINITELY related. I went back a little and saw it in the screen, good cover fact checkers!
P.S. I’m a Chicagoan, born and raised.
Chicogoan sounds like a pokemon
@@OryxTheMadGod3 Totally!
They aren't always though. There were not two, but three guys with the same fairly common Japanese last name in a snowboarding event at the Olympics just now. Two were twins. The third man was unrelated.
Torontonian here. Toronto City Centre Airport is basically Meigs Field’s Canadian sister and the noise is basically none existent. Most of the noise is made by the nearby highway. So if you thought this mayor wasn’t petty enough, he’s basically just a nimby…
Planes were also flying rather low over the museum camps just to the north: the Field museum, Adler planetarium and Shedd aquarium. The noise may not have affected the apartments nearby, but it did to thousands of park visitors
@@CortexNewsService Yeah and we have the Toronto Islands and Ontario Place that are a similar distance to Miegs and it’s surrounding attractions. The noise isn’t really noticeable honestly. It’s also worth pointing out that jets are banned from Toronto City Centre. So even the noisiest of turboprops aren’t much of a nuisance.
The real reason was to build a land based casino there, a park is there because DesPlaines paid dearly for the last Illinois casino license, and fought in Court to keep Chicago from getting one.
Maybe it was a fever dream but I remember visiting the airport. Had like a little display inside like a model of the airport maybe? This was 20 some years ago, so memory is spotty. But I remember it had a weird history or was just odd because of how tiny it was.
Just wanted to get that out before starting the video, make sure I don't mix past memories with new ones from the video.
Why might you have been there? Are you a Chicagoan? Because I believe they held aviation education events for young kids in its terminal.
I recommend those who are sad to not have Meigs Field in Chicago anymore look up the articles for Northerly Island and Daniel Burnham on Wikipedia. The original concept for Northerly Island from the Burnham Plan of 1909 was for it to be part of a series of parks for the purposes of beautifying Chicago. Sadly, Burnham died in 1912, and his co-author was able to convince Mayor William Thompson that an airport would be the best use of that location. Meigs would not be built until after WWII due to lack of funds.
If anything, Mayor Daley was resorting back to the Burnham Plan for the new (and old) plan for Northerly Island. It's just going to take some time to realize that goal.
Well that doesn't really affect me at all
Rip Meigs Field
That's still not a justification
@@9999AWC exactly, the justification is "airports near downtowns are an incredibly stupid idea, why the hell did they still have one, close that airport right now"
I have great childhood memories of playing MS flight sim 98 and taking off from this airport in a Cessna 182.
Fun fact the list of Illinois politicians convicted of crimes has expanded by 2 since you took that picture one of who is the nephew of Daley
It’s now used for concerts. The parking is over priced and no matter what, you WILL get a ticket.
Lansing has “improved” it’s airport, but still the best airport near Chicago is Griffith. Good food as well.
It is Chicago. Why would you drive in anyway? It is much easier to take transit.
"But hey if you do not use political influence to advance your own self interest, are you really an Illinois politician?"
As someone from the Chicagoland area this hits on so many levels it hurts. true beyond reasonable doubt.
This was a "reliever airport" that kept small, slow planes from clogging up the traffic patterns at O'Hare and Midway. It was also where the City of Chicago parked their fire department helicopters.
I do rather clearly recall watching the news the morning after this happened as a kid and how even the anchors at the time didn't know what happened to Meigs or why.
In all fairness, Northerly Island Park is one of my favorite parks in chicago, mostly bc virtually nobody goes to most of it, at least in the pandemic. I’m not explicitly saying Richie D was right, but I get it.
Dear FAA, please post a NOTAM prohibiting the carriage of Richard Daley on any US registered plane or by any US licensed pilot or anywhere within the US airspace system citing his toxicity to aviation and danger to airport facilities.
LOL
Back in the day when I worked for TWA our commuter carrier Trans World Express flew into Meigs which was popular with business people wanting to get to downtown Chicago quicker.
I did not expect the goal to build a public park. I figured it was some weird deal where the land gets sold to a real estate developer he knows
0:58 Ah yes, Richard J. "L." Daley
(another one for the next installation to HAI's error recap series)
On one hand this is a ridiculous abuse of power and the mayor was effectively off the hook for something that he absolutely should've not gotten away with
On the other hand, it was replacing an entirely private airport that served no value to most of the population with a (presumably public) park
I'm left so conflicted by this but I am laughing about it a bit
Well, it wasn't a "private" airport. It did have some economic value, selling gas, renting hanger space, and providing jobs. But he never actually replaced it with the park. The "park" was just for PR, to be forgotten about once he got what he wanted.
Park is still not officially opened
To add to this, you know airplanes are bad for the environment.
But then again on the other hand it just shows how much are people willing to do for profits.
@@fica1137 Yeah I think that's the worst part about the whole affair
@@smithwillnot I mean, airplanes are equally bad for the environment as automobiles. In a lot of cases the engine is significantly similar, particularly with the airplanes that operated out of Meigs. If you want to get technical, though, it's LESS environmentally damaging (in an emissions context) to fly into Meigs as to drive into Chicago, because less time is spent emitting exhaust when you can fly right by all the stopped traffic.
This is the first airport I took off from and landed at. It's a staple of the Microsoft Flight Simulator games and I call it the airport of my childhood.
At least you can still purchase Meigs as it was for Microsoft Flight Simulator as an add-on.
It's a cool airport but I can imagine that it's pretty annoying to have a general aviation airport that close to the city centre, with the noise pollution and all, and a park seems like a good alternative.
Besides, us flight simmers from FSX got Friday Harbor which is just as nice
Make sure to spon a float plane though
Tbh if it really was because "fuck the elites" then I'm all for it
@@baileyjerman5573 What? Did you watch the video? This wasn't because "fuck the elites", this was a rich politician throwing his weight around for his own personal benefit.
@@baileyjerman5573 Honestly, this airport provided more benefit to us poor people who can only afford tiny airplanes. "The elites" can afford faster airplanes that can mingle appropriately with airliners and fit into O'Hare or Midway traffic without issue, and actually had difficulty getting into Meigs because it was too small.
Now they have replaced it with gunfire and sirens, Oh wait, maybe skip the sirens maybe the police don't show up anymore.
Personal vendettas should not be acceptable criteria for closing an airport. This was a real asshole move on Daly’s part.
And previously he tried to close down Midway Airport and build another airport in a southside neighborhood. The US Government shot him down on the Midway closure since Midway is an International Airport it would require the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, at the time. The clown also allowed the Skyway to default on its bonds, said too expensive to upgrade. A Federal Judge took over the Skyway in Bankruptcy and in 3 years it was making a profit and was completely resurfaced. Wonder where all the money from the previous 30 years went? HMMMMM!
As a representative of Illinois, nobody even gives two craps about "land value" or "eyesoars".
Yes, I know Meigs Field from the Microsoft Flight Simulator games that used it as the default airport up until the 2000s. That airport was so iconic, and it was such a perfect choice to start your first flight in those games.
Daley made the entire decision himself without anyone else's approval. I don't think the majority of people in Chicago at the time wanted Meigs Field removed. And that stupid park he turned it into is almost useless. As someone who's lived in the Chicago area most of my life, I completely forgot that park existed until watching this video.
What exactly is supposed to be the "use" of a park? They look nice and are good to walk around in, mostly.
@@PhysicsGamer Sure, it looks nice, but there are already plenty of parks scattered across Chicago that are more easily accessible.
I feel like any Chicagoan who knows their way around the city would go to one of those instead of going all the way up to Northerly Island for a walk in the park. I just don't think Daley really accomplished anything by destroying a perfectly good airport.
@@efficiencygaming3494 There's also plenty of airports scattered across Chicago, and while it's common to decide to go to a new park "just because", the decision to use a different airport is rarely so lightly made. As such an overabundance of parks is a good thing - or at least, a better thing than an overabundance of airports.
By your logic most of the riverside parks are pointless due to being "all the way up" there. Of course, for at least some Chicagoans it's going to be the closest park to them, so I'm not sure what that particular objection is actually about...
There’s no way in hell I can read through 1.6k comments to see how many times this has been mentioned, if at all, but I’m honestly shocked the top comment isn’t pointing out the mistake at 0:58: Richard J. Daley is identified as Richard L. Daley. Anyways, thanks for another great video, Sam! You’re the best!!
The Daly's NO relationship? Try FATHER and SON .. it's important as the senior Daly had the initial desire to create the Museum Campus, fulfilled by the junior Daly (moving northbound Lake Shore Drive west and shutting down Meigs Field on Northerly Island
I still contend the worst change to Flight Simulator was when they took out crash animations.
Sucks that we can't crash into buildings anymore, I was practicing...
@@neonbunnies9596 whoa.
@@neonbunnies9596 holdup
I miss being able to land my private jet there, get some deals done, then off to the next destination.
You must have had a very small jet to land there.
@@marvindebot3264 he's actually that kid that sued pepsi for a Harrier
The dancing construction worker STOCK FOOTAGE (ffs who even makes these things???) had me in stitches!
I typically like parks, but after all that drama, the best they could do with the land was build a pavement path around a pond? No trees, no pagodas, no interesting features besides a single bridge? It looks more like a vacant lot than a park.
The "park" was an excuse it was never going to be good.
As a Chicagoland native, I still think he's an asshole for destroying the airport, and after 19 years, I have yet to step foot in that damn park.
When I was working in Chicago when this happened, I was laughing my arse off. In the office the rumors were the executives were upset they had to go our to Midway or O'hare now and spend that extra time travelling to fly off to our business interests on the East coast and they hated that idea. Eventually the company hired a limousine service to help shuttle them so they could sit in the back and read papers or do calls. Childish people at that level so childish.
Found a typo on screen at 0:57. The middle initial of the guy on the top right is wrong. It says “Richard L. Daley” when it should say “Richard *J.* Daley”.
providing more green space for people in downtown Chicago, a very very very elegant idea
Maybe, someone should the same to all this idiotic former mayor's properties and show him that the term "an eye for an eye" is still valid!!!!!
Chicagoans called this airport "Mig's" Field, not "Meg's" just so you know :)
Oh, did they? I'd heard it pronounced Meegs.
Thank you for this correction. I was worried I was having a brain aneurysm while watching this video.
@@c182SkylaneRG Some might have gone Meegs, but born and raised in Chicago i've only ever heard Migs
Yeah it's "Migs", just like the airplanes we're going to shove up Russia's ass
It's sad to see an iconic airport disappear
The park at Northerly Island has a venue and it's awful in the summer. You're surrounded by water on all sides sitting still elbow to elbow with hot and sweaty people. The mosquitoes are unrelenting.
...and he remained mayor for eight years after this? I get the feeling that an endless number of videos could be made about his career.
Him and his Daddy. And the fact that he was preceded by his Daddy, and had the longest career of anyone matched only by his Daddy....
Yep
It sounds like this is a result that the general public wanted, but the action was tied up by lobbyists and rich people. And it's now a thriving wetland preserve and waterfront park.
4:40 BRO IT'S NOT EVEN NICE LOOKING OMFG 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
Hey Sam, good job on this!! Even if a few details were a bit off, you clearly put in a lot of effort to understand a complicated topic, and I appreciate you.
2:47 That's funny because those film were shot primarily in Chicago.
Richard M. Daley's brother Bill Daley ran for mayor in 2019 but thankfully lost
Well, maybe thankfully. Would he really have been worse than Lightfoot?
Crime Spree is absolutely amazing! Thoroughly enjoyed both episodes!
Chicago and Illinois is seriously one of the most corrupt places I've ever set foot in. Outrageously expensive tolls to drive on some of the worst roads in the country. Parking passes for parking on all city streets, making it impossible to have visitors, if they can even get there without a 4x4. And the best thing I've heard: random and often frequent building facade inspections that can cost thousands out of YOUR pocket.
boy i remember when this happened and I lived in Chicago, but fairly new, and I just remember thinking the sheer cajones involved in doing this. of course now I know that being imperious is pretty much a job requirement for mayor of Chicago.
pretty sure i'm not alone in saying that yeah, it sucked that he did something flagrantly against process, but frankly most public process is there to obstruct change for the benefit of ppl invested in the status quo and he did so to make a park, so.... eh
Thanks Driver 2's excellently crafted maps for letting me know about this airport's existence and HAI for also letting me know it no longer exists
Airport had straight GTA A'Murica vibe.
Northerly Island park is a beautiful place in Chicago with a hiking trail, a concert venue, and many spots to get a great photo of the lake or the skyline.
It's also worth noting that Meigs Field's entire existence can be considered a violation of Burnham's plan of Chicago, which was to keep the lakefront exclusively open as public parkland and keep private development west of what would become Lake Shore Drive; it's the reason why there was such uproar and pushback when George Lucas tried to build a museum next to Soldier Field a few years ago
And while I certainly think there are ways Daley could've handled this whole ordeal better, this was honestly one of his best moves as mayor. And I think comparing this to a terrorist attack is a bit much; terrorists seek to cause harm. The most Daley did here was inconvenience a few rich people at the benefit of so many more people who didn't have the money or connections to fly out of Meigs.
It wasn't "a few rich people", it was the busiest airport of it's size in the US. TONS of people used it.
@@keiyakins Doesn't mean it was an airport for everyone in the same vein as Midway or O'hare
@@JC42023 so midway or O'Hare are free to fly out of? News to me. They're just for a few rich people too.
@@keiyakins was Meigs free? You’d still have to pay for your ticket and everything
Besides: plan of Chicago. If George Lucas can’t open a museum on the lakefront why should an airport be there?
Okay but somehow I missed this whole North Korea haircut thing and now I must know. What made everyone so mad?
He made a video about a hoax that North Koreans could only get 22 state approved haircuts. It's been proven wrong and the original source of this claim was just some journalist who went there as a tourist and took a photo of a board with haircuts on, just like the magazines you probably have at your hairdresser for inspiration, then claimed that were the only ones allowed for North Koreans to get. The comments section of the video was people pointing out that it's not true. Kind of a shame that Half as Interesting didn't look into it properly after the drama tbh