This week’s release of a new transportation funding plan provided a new opportunity for critics to dump on the South Suburban Airport.
The Illinois Department of Transportation on Monday released a multi-year plan for improving highways, bridges and other projects throughout the state.
A columnist with a Chicago business publication was the first to note the $23.5 billion IDOT plan included $205.5 million in funding for construction, land acquisition, engineering and utilities for an I-57 interchange at Eagle Lake Road near Peotone in eastern Will County.
The sum allocated by IDOT is 26% more than the $162 million appropriated for the work by legislators in June. Regional officials have said the investment in infrastructure would likely help the state attract a private developer that would finance construction of a runway, terminals and other airport improvements.
“Terrible waste of money,” someone commented on the statewide political blog Capitol Fax. “Stop the third airport nonsense.”
The state has spent nearly $100 million since 2002 to acquire about 5,000 acres for the proposed airport. Land acquisition has included the 2014 purchase of Bult Field, a functioning airstrip at 28261 S. Kedzie Ave., which has a Monee mailing address.
This year’s airport infrastructure funding is new, but arguments criticizing the project have been around for years.
“O’Hare and Midway can handle Chicago’s air travel needs, especially now that they are expanding,” some have said.
“No passenger airlines have agreed to use the third airport, and there’s not even a developer yet,” others have argued.
“Illinois should spend money on actual transportation needs instead of on a ‘road to nowhere,'” some people have said.
“Gary and Rockford are already ‘third airports,'” others have argued.
Many have criticized the airport for 35 years. For years, Chicago politicians fought to protect the interests of O’Hare and Midway and perceived Peotone as a threat. Farmers and environmentalists made strong arguments about how the project would destroy the rural landscape around their homes.
Some eastern Will County residents said they were involuntarily co-opted into “the Southland.” They wanted to know why places like Crete and Beecher had to sacrifice their traditional way of life to help places like Harvey and Robbins.
Those who have criticized the South Suburban Airport were not wrong. As a Will County resident since 1991, I, too, was a skeptic who thought the project was a boondoggle. Then, recently, I began to see the airport from a different perspective.
The turning point, for me, was an old chart that airport supporters have used for years during presentations. The chart showed the concentration of Chicago-area jobs in past decades.
In 1960, shortly after the opening of O’Hare, jobs were fairly evenly distributed among the northern, western and southern suburbs surrounding Chicago. By 1980, however, there was a surplus of tens of thousands of jobs around O’Hare.
Within 20 years of O’Hare’s opening, the south suburbs lost more than 100,000 jobs and the northern and western suburbs gained more than 100,000 jobs.
O’Hare’s effect on that statistic had to have been more than coincidence.
The Southland’s downturn began in the 1970s, when steel mills and factories began closing. Manufacturing jobs disappeared. Industry was no longer a major employer.
After the industrial sector was wiped out, retail centers began closing. Entire shopping centers, such as Lincoln Mall in Matteson, were torn down. Grocery stores and specialty shops shuttered.
From Blue Island to Chicago Heights, from Calumet City to Matteson, streetscapes have become marred by empty storefronts, vacant lots and abandoned buildings.
With the commercial tax base decimated, residential property tax rates skyrocketed. The tax rate in Park Forest is 34%. A cascading series of events has made it nearly impossible for businesses or homeowners to relocate to or remain in the south suburbs.
Clearly, not enough has been done to address regional economic concerns since the steel mills began closing more than 40 years ago. At this point it seems no amount of incentives or tweaks to funding formulas would be enough to reverse the trends of high tax rates, declining population and lack of business investment.
No casino, horse racing track or legalized marijuana program could possibly create enough jobs or generate enough revenue to reverse the trend. High schools and hospitals are closing. The Southland is dying, and it is a sad demise to witness in slow motion.
It’s not like this everywhere. Jobs are bountiful around O’Hare. Retail buildings are occupied. Towns get the latest, trendy eateries. Homes listed on the market usually sell in relatively short amounts of time. Property tax rates are relatively low. Communities have life.
A lot of people who live in the south suburbs have to commute to jobs in areas north and west of Chicago. They have additional transportation and child care costs, so they struggle more than people in other areas to get ahead.
Revitalizing the Southland will require major investment. Billions of dollars of private funding will be needed to build businesses and create jobs. The South Suburban Airport is the region’s best hope for such a catalyst.
The airport would likely encourage many types of businesses to invest in the region. In addition to spurring new transportation and manufacturing operations, the airport could lead to investment in high-tech companies, new office buildings, hotels, restaurants and other support services.
There is no telling what level of investment the airport might generate. Still, the airport is a risk. The state commitment for infrastructure is probably going to lure a private development partner, but there are no guarantees. There are reasons to believe, however, the airport is the best bet to revive the region’s economy.
The billions of dollars being spent to rebuild O’Hare and Midway airports will not significantly impact the annual numbers of flight operations or passengers. The facilities may operate more efficiently, but they are bound by the physical limitations of airspace capacity.
Will County is a hub in the nation’s $1.64 trillion logistics and transportation industry. One-fourth of the nation’s freight moves through Chicago rail yards. The CenterPoint Intermodal Center in Will County is North America’s largest inland port.
Demand for an air cargo and freight facility to serve the south suburbs is greater than ever. Last week, Amazon announced it would build a 1 million square-foot fulfillment center in Channahon. It will be Amazon’s seventh facility in Will County.
Amazon opened its first Illinois facility in 2015. In four short years it has gone from employing zero people in Will County to being the county’s largest employer, with more than 7,000 workers.
Amazon has declined comment on whether it would use the proposed South Suburban Airport. Again, there are no guarantees with the airport, only risk.
Yet, the risk of spending public funds for airport infrastructure is likely to pay huge dividends in future private investment.
The Southland — its people, institutions and communities — has a proud heritage worth saving. But it needs something big to reverse the downward economic spiral.
The South Suburban Airport is the region’s best hope to create jobs and to attract and keep businesses and residents in the area.
Twitter @tedslowik1
