FAiR (Fair Allocation in Runways) is the largest citizen-led movement on the
northwest side of Chicago. I talked to one of the founders, Jac Courier, who
explained that on October 17, 2013, Old Edgebrook residents woke up to a
“F’d Up” reality.
Because of the O’Hare Modernization Project, 2,000 flights a day are now
concentrated over a few Chicago neighborhoods, instead of being spread
out like it was prior to 2013. Additionally, this project shifted 85% percent of
all nighttime landings to routes directly over Chicago’s northwest side. Jac
continued, “Imagine if all the highways in Chicago closed down and only the
Kennedy existed, and you lived near the highway, and across the street from
the L-Train. Now amplify that by 2,000 and tell me you wouldn’t be pissed off.
Jac’s motivation for starting FAiR isn’t a play on words. He felt the sneaky
tactics deployed by O’Hare Airport were anything but fair. He talked with
seven community organizations before founding FAIR and made a simple
statement: ”The only way I’ll fight for this issue is if nobody knew this was
going to happen. If one person knew this was going to happen, I’ll walk
away”. Out of all the community groups he visited, nobody was aware of
O’Hare’s plan.
This massive shift in airplane traffic puts the burden of noise, fuel, air,
and visual pollution almost solely on the residents and businesses of the
northwest side of Chicago. Nearly all these communities predate O’Hare’s
conversion to a commercial airport in the ’50s, and this shift is neither
necessary nor desirable.
FOSTER & PULASKI
Fair Allocation in Runways (FAiR) Coalition proposes the following
solutions:
• Immediately halt the October 2013 takeoff and landing plan. Devise,
instead, a neighborhood-based plan, working with community groups,
businesses, the ONCC, and the FAA, for fair allocation of air traffic between
existing and new runways and day and night air traffic.
• Continue to utilize all existing and new runways.
• Expand noise monitoring and abatement programs to ensure specific
communities are not unduly burdened.
Jac acknowledges that some Chicagoans might view his issues as frivolous
compared to other issues, like crime and drugs, but in order for Chicago
to be a world-class city, we all have to realize that we’re all better together.
Nobody should be excluded from the vision of Chicago. It doesn’t matter if
my issue is schools, poverty, or air noise.
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