Psst – Wanna Buy An Airport? Mayor Daley Shows How a Bail-Out is REALLY Done

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Oct. 6, 2008

So…ya wanna try and make some sorta bail-out plan actually work eh?  Ah, Congress – those inexperienced dilettantes! 

Ya really wanna get something done?  Where all ya need is a well-muscled vote of one? 
Then forget making your case to the public, forget democratically elected legislative bodies and forget even calling it a bail-out!  Just pay attention and let “Da Mare,” the honorable Richard M. Daley, give ya a lesson on how to get things done as they are done on the Fifth Floor of Chicago City Hall…

You see, there’s this airport on the South Side of Chicago – Midway, it’s called.  Once upon a time – before big jets needed long runways – it held the title of “The World’s Busiest Airport” for decades. 

Now, with O’Hare up northwest being the 800-lb. aviation gorilla in town, Midway is the alternate choice, offering generally a variety of smaller flights (Southwest Airlines is a notable attraction there). 

Midway is a little quaint, much more convenient than ORD at times, and linked to The Chicago Loop by a rapid transit line – the Orange Line – built in the 1990s.

Then, this week, somewhat out of the blue, the Mayor announced (with a grinning mouthful of his usual casual, semi-obvious quotes) that he had leased the airport to a private company for 99 years…to the tune of $2.5 billion, a $900 million profit for the city…which includes some $100 million that Daley can spend right away on whatever he wants!  Hey, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, McConnell, Dodd, et al – now, THAT’s a bail-out!

“Everybody thought…the deal was dead a month ago,” the proud-of-himself Mayor crowed about a deal that crept along well under most radars in the city.  “There were rumors…You heard it:  ‘The deal is dead.  Nothing’s gonna happen.’  [But] if you’re not creative in an economic crisis for your city, where are you gonna get the infrastructure money to compete?”

This deal follows the 2005 leasing of the Chicago Skyway (a toll-bridge shortcut to Northwest Indiana – and its closest-to-the-city casino boats) for $1.83 billion and the 2006 leasing of the city-owned downtown parking garages for $563 million.  Much like the subsequent raised toll on the Skyway and fees at the garages, the Midway deal is expected to lead to increases in parking rates, and higher food, drink, and retail prices at the airport, as the new management company (Midway Investment and Development Co., a combo of experienced airport-runner YVR Airport Services, financial giant Citi, and insurance company John Hancock) seeks to start recovering on its investment. 

…But, hey, prices go up, right?  Even in a deal that the “What else do I have that I can sell?” Mayor excitedly calls “cutting edge.”  (Besides, in 99 years – the same length of time for the Skyway and garages deals – there isn’t likely to be a Mayor around named “Daley”…or is there?)

So, youse guys (oh, yeah – Pelosi…so, youse gals, too) in Washington, lissen up to “Da Mare” and learn:  Maybe ya oughta see how much somebody – I dunno, some big company, the Saudis, the Chinese [shrugs] – wants to pay to take the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument off your hands. 

Hey, that Smithsonian thing is just sitting there, not charging anybody anything to get in and look at the rockets and the Fonz’s jacket and all that other stuff!  Cut the right deals, and maybe ya can bail those broke financial jamokes right out.  But just remember whose idea it was…and be sure to not forget the Mayor’s cut (if ya know what I mean).  We’ll be back next month to pick up our first envelope…

For more coverage of Illinois politics, look for my regular, weekly posts here on The Stonecipher Report.  (And, for a free subscription to my twice-weekly e-mail column on politics and pop-culture, "And, in the News…" send a note to:  m_l_sweeney@hotmail.com)