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CNN Live At Daybreak
Battle Rages Over O'Hare Airport Expansion Plans
Aired July 27, 2001 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a familiar cry, perhaps you have heard it, perhaps you have even said it: Not in my back yard. Well, the latest cries of the NIMBYs is being heard in neighborhoods where airports are expanding.
In Illinois, a political battle over plans to expand O'Hare International Airport. But expansion of O'Hare would have an impact on the suburb of Bensenville.
And now our Chicago bureau chief Jeff Flock is there. Jeff, this is one of those stories. You've got people stranded at the airport, people who can't stand the delays, and then you've got people really trying to protect their homes.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two sides to every story, Colleen.
You know, the NIMBY syndrome, they say, has given way to the banana syndrome. That's build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything. These folks that liver already very near O'Hare Airport are not too happy about the city's airport expansion plans.
Take a look at the homes in this neighborhood. Take a good, long look, because if the city has its way, these homes would be bulldozed; 543 homes would need to be torn down in order to expand O'Hare and, the city says, alleviate the backlog problem and the air flight delay problem.
But as you might guess, there is a good bit of controversy over all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED BENSENVILLE RESIDENT: It's hard sometimes, especially when you're on the phone, or if we're talking outside like this.
FLOCK (voice over): It can be as hard to live near O'Hare Airport as it is to travel through it.
UNIDENTIFIED TRAVELER: One time I was stuck here for 13-and-a- half hours.
FLOCK: But to make it better for some, it may get worse for others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, we announced a proposal to enhance Chicago's role as the nation's...
FLOCK: Chicago wants to spend $6 billion to expand the world's second busiest airport, bulldozing 543 homes in this neighborhood in the process, including Bill Muzyka.
BILL MUZYKA, O'HARE AREA RESIDENT: They may get it sooner or later, but, I mean, I'm not going to go down without a fight.
FLOCK: Until now, the fight has been over whether to expand O'Hare or to put a new Chicago airport in this south suburban corn field. Either way, somebody is bound to sue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People file lawsuits every day. That's what lawyers are for. That's how -- they're supposed to do that. We understand that.
FLOCK: Last year, O'Hare was second only to La Guardia in delays -- 57,000 flights.
(on camera): O'Hare is a hub for the world's two biggest airlines. It is said that when O'Hare sneezes, the nation's air traffic system gets a cold. According to the FAA, even a single canceled flight here in the morning can affect more than 70 cities and 300 aircraft by day's end.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Something must be done soon.
FLOCK (voice-over): Arizona Senator John McCain held hearings on the growing O'Hare delays, threatening federal intervention if something doesn't get built.
MCCAIN: The only thing that is not an option is inaction on the part of state and local officials.
FLOCK: Back in the O'Hare neighborhood, there is a bright side.
DAN SPENCE, BENSENVILLE RESIDENT: Every two minutes a plane is landing. I mean, you guys (INAUDIBLE). There will be another one here in like two minutes.
FLOCK: Though he lives close, Dan Spence's house won't be torn down and changing around the runways takes his house out of the flight path. One's loss, another's gain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLOCK: And, Colleen, the irony is that right now as of the last six months to the first months -- first part of this year, the good news is that O'Hare has done pretty well in terms of delays still, despite that considerable question about what to do about it. Because the weather has been real good in the first six months of the year, and it's typically not like that.
We'll keep watching it.
MCEDWARDS: All right, Jeff Flock, thanks very much.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, O'Hare, you know, the second busiest airport is not the only planning to expand. In fact, at Hartsfield International in Atlanta, the busiest airport in the nation, a fifth runway is in the works.
Research is under way for expansion at Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Denver has already added a sixth runway. At Miami International, construction of a new runway started last year. And in Seattle, a third runway is planned.
All this may mean more flights are added, but travelers hope it will also mean fewer delays. Of course, lots of questions for the residents who live near all of those airports.
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