Suburbs Enlist Experts To Look Into Reducing O'Hare Noise
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A kinder, gentler Suburban O'Hare Commission Wednesday unveiled the team of experts it has hired to find ways to reduce airport jet noise -- a group that makes it clear they want to work with the city, not against it.
Former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official Joseph Del Balzo said during a committee meeting in Elk Grove Village that he is not out to shut down airport operations.
"There are no villains here," he said.
Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson hosted the meeting and for years was one of the most vocal critics of the O'Hare expansion plan. But he said the consultants are trying to convey a new attitude when requesting information, and a combined effort.
"The letters they sent out to Chicago and the FAA are very conciliatory. It's, 'Let's work together,'" he said.
Johnson said the team has short-term and long-term goals.
"We're not looking to cut operations," Johnson said. "We're not looking to hurt the airport financially. What we're just trying to do is make some minor operational changes that can help minimize the impact."
Those could include minor alterations in landing approaches and take-offs, and the rate of ascent and descent, could be done easily and could have substantial immediate impact, Del Balzo said.
Del Balzo said that one of the first things he hopes to do is create a Web site that will track all incoming and outgoing flights at O'Hare on a 20-minute delay, so that the public has an easier time pinpointing which planes are creating the most problems.
Johnson said he was pleased to hear words of interest from a couple of members of the city-funded O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission as well as the activist group Fair Allocation in Runways (FAiR).
Bensenville Mayor Frank Soto said the effort is worth it, but said the consultants have "one try to do this right."
Asked why he believes the city of Chicago will pay attention to effort, Johnson said he was encouraged by comments in the city's third mayoral debate from both incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel and challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who said they would support more stringent limits on airport noise.
Johnson said that when the Suburban O'Hare Commission fought its ultimately unsuccessful effort to stop airport expansion, northwest side residents considered it "a suburban problem." Now, he said, as take-off and landing patterns have evolved with new runways, many northwest side residents are just as angry as those who live in the suburbs ringing the airport.