By Ed Lowe
Senior Writer
One of the City's security concerns is the fact that the Jardine water filtration plant north of Navy Pier is vulnerable to attack. In addition, the tons of chlorine stored there and used regularly for water purification represent a hazard should the plant ever be attacked. Protection of the plant is one of the police department's highest priorities.
The city could use a centrally located heliport to enhance its security and provide a base for emergencies as well as a location for search and rescue operations. The money for such an installation is available from at least two Federal government sources.
A Chicago Tribune report dating from early September 2004 quoted Mayor Daley as saying that the city is seeking a location for a heliport in the area between 35th Street, Fullerton Avenue, the lake and Western Avenue. The Mayor went on to say: "We are looking at a number of sites. It seems like more and more executives are using helicopters. It has become more and more prevalent."
Inside spoke to one of the Mayor's press secretaries, Jodie Kawada, who researched the quotation from the Mayor. After a fruitless three weeks' search, she said she was able to neither confirm nor deny the quotation that had appeared in the Tribune. Kawada did mention a proposal made by the Mayor at the time Boeing's corporate office was moved to Chicago. At that time, he was reported to have indicated his support for a heliport to ferry Boeing executives between their downtown offices and Midway Airport where they keep corporate planes needed for their worldwide operations. Later studies by Boeing cooled down that proposal when they found that ground transportation would serve their purposes as well, and the idea of a heliport was put on a back burner.
Inside contacted Monique Bond, formerly the spokesperson for the Department of Aviation and now in that same capacity for the City's Office of Emergency Management. Bond explained that the only operative heliport in the city is in Iroquois Park, located on the far southeast side of the city at 95th Street and Ewing Avenue. The call for emergencies would require a flight along miles of lakefront in order to reach the downtown area for any search and rescue operations.
"From the standpoint of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, there has been some preliminary discussion of how helicopters or a heliport would benefit emergency responses in the city, and how we would be able to use them in the event of an emergency, and it could be multi-city use for all departments," Bond said.
“Also, the City is embarking on—and the Mayor will soon announce—a major global traffic plan that will incorporate many of the City's major traffic components under one umbrella. Basically, it would bring together many of the key agencies that are involved in any kind of traffic management into one single location which would have the ability to coordinate and control. The Mayor was recently in Los Angeles looking at their plan. As you might know, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas have major traffic congestion issues. Among things they do use are helicopters to get from place to place. [Helicopters] could be part of our overall traffic plan as well," said Bond. "Something we're looking into now is whether there are Homeland Security funds, through the Federal Government, that would be available."
In a related issue, the Park District is holding meetings regarding the highest and best use of Northerly Island. An obvious question arises concerning Northerly Island: If the Mayor is interested in heliports or if there are Homeland Security funds available, why won't he go back and use Meigs for that purpose?
According to Bond, "Homeland Security funds are only available for response to an emergency that would require those kinds of resources. Under our overall Homeland Security plan which we have implemented there are many strategies for securing Chicago. A heliport would only be another component as far as this office is concerned. If we ever had to evacuate the city, we would have to have all the resources and tools at our fingertips at that moment in order to determine what to do. The heliport is a tool we would be able to have as far as emergency response is concerned. The fire department and the police have helicopters, and the heliport is truly a tool that would benefit the safety and security of Chicago.
"I'm not aware of any plans that would involve Meigs. I only know how we would respond operationally to an emergency." Bond indicated that she was not aware of the plan presented by the Friends of Meigs group which indicates that more than $20 million in Federal funds is already earmarked for the purpose of reinstalling Meigs.
Inside spoke to the Department of Aviation's new spokesperson, Annette Martinez, who said that "the Department of Aviation supports whatever the Mayor wants." When asked about the Tribune quotation indicating the Mayor's ambivalence on the issue of a heliport, she checked with her superiors and then called to say, "The Department of Aviation is not involved in the planning of a new heliport."
The City was required to pay a reported $9 million to the Federal government following the improper destruction of the Meigs facility.
Again, the city could use a centrally located heliport to enhance the security of the city and provide a base for emergencies as well as a central location for search and rescue operations. The money for such an installation is available from at least two Federal Government sources. Considering the advantages of the Friends of Meigs plan, an addition to the lakefront's ambience would result from already available funds. The Park District is still uncertain about the uses to which Northerly Island could be put and, based on its budgetary problems, has no money to improve the Island.
A heliport would certainly benefit citizens on the City's North Side by providing security facilities that don't exist under the present arrangement. |
