CHICAGO-The president of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI) announced that yesterday, he sent a letter to Gov. Rod Blagojevich asking him to kill the proposed Peotone Airport boondoggle and stop terrorizing homeowners in Peotone and Monee by threatening to take their homes using eminent domain.


“I strongly urge you to oppose and help kill the proposed Peotone Airport project,” wrote Jim Tobin, NTUI president. “For good reason, this project has been called ‘the mother of all state boondoggles.’ More than $100 million has been spent just on ‘studies’ for this 37-square-mile airport south of Chicago that all major airlines have stated they will not use or pay for. In the meantime, the state has been terrorizing homeowners in that area and has been threatening to take their homes by eminent domain.”
“These communities are a good hour-drive south of Chicago and are rural in character,” wrote Tobin. “Many people who live there moved for the peace and quiet or have farmed their land for generations. The only persons profiting from the project would be contractors, lawyers and real estate speculators who would get rich on Peotone contracts. Everyone else would lose.”
“Just before Thanksgiving, the State of Illinois sent 57 letters to Peotone area residents threatening to use eminent domain to forcibly take their property if the residents did not immediately start negotiating with the State. The State plans to spend $26 million for 2,285 acres of farm and residential property. These farmers and homeowners do not want to sell.”
“The FAA has not approved a master plan for the Peotone airport; in fact, the State has not yet submitted one and the FAA decision is two years away. The airlines have all refused to come to Peotone and the airline industry is in a shambles. The solution to aviation congestion is expansion and full utilization of O’Hare and the Gary, Rockford and Milwaukee airports, state-of-the-art air-traffic technology, and price cuts away from peak flying times.”
Tobin concluded: “Please take a stand immediately to kill once-and-for-all this colossal boondoggle. This monster pork barrel project and the related intimidation of landowners in the Peotone and Monee areas have no place in our state.”
Jim Tobin will speak at a rally protesting the state’s threatened use of eminent domain at Peotone. The Rally will be at noon on Saturday, January 15, at the IDOT Land Acquisition Office in Matteson, located in the building just south of the Harris Bank on the Southeast corner of Route 30 and Cicero.
Click here to view the News Release.

By on January 11, 2005   /   News Releases