A Student’s-Eye View Of Meigs

It’s not often that GA topics rate an editorial in the mainstream press, let alone in a college newspaper, but even the editor of the Columbia Chronicle, the student newspaper at Chicago’s Columbia College, was moved enough by the ongoing saga of Meigs Field to put fingers to keyboard. Now, Managing Editor Kristen Menke doesn’t say much that hasn’t already been said about the destruction of Meigs and the FAA’s intention to fine the city as much as $4.5 million but she does use it as a launching point for, shall we say, a broader and more entertaining discussion of Mayor Richard Daley’s management style. Since we aren’t a college publication (ah, to be young and idealistic again) we won’t quote some of Menke’s more salient points. She does, however, make the valid (and safe) observation that the city can’t just brush off a fine of that size. “In a year when the city of Chicago faces a budget deficit of nearly $200 million and talk of raising sales taxes, gasoline taxes and even property taxes has begun, $4.5 million is a big deal,” she opines.