March For Airport Draws A Crowd (The Star)

March For Airport Draws A CrBy Kristen Zambo
Sunday, March 19, 2000
The Star Newspaper

A total of 500 to 1,000 people marched six miles from Harvey to Flossmoor Saturday with U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Chicago, to support the development of a Peotone airport.

Residents from the South Suburbs and Chicago were joined by local clergy, politicians, business leaders and union officials to demand that the region receive the economic boom that communities surrounding O'Hare International Airport already enjoy, they said.

"All of the area around O'Hare is rich. Here, we have poverty. People of color are being discriminated against. We think this (airport) is a beginning" to reverse the current state of poverty, said the Rev. Len Dubi, of St. Anne's Parish in Hazel Crest.

Before the march, crowds gathered at Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, rallying support for the "just and fair" airport, as they termed it.

The crowd then marched from Dixie Highway and 151st Street to Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor to advocate an airport they see as the catalyst of a much-needed economic boom.

Dale Mize, a leader at St. Anne's Parish and a high school football coach, said the Peotone airport would create badly needed jobs in the communities.

Jackson told the crowd that marched to "fight for airport-related jobs that will decrease the unemployment rate, rather than not fight and have the heat turned off" when people are without jobs and cannot pay their heating bills.

Chicago resident Marsha Lockwood agreed, saying the South Side of Chicago and the South Suburbs do not have the job availability as does the North Side, which has jobs to give away.

The third airport would create an estimated 236,000 jobs and that number would swell to about 500,000 jobs as a result of the increased need for hotels and services in the region, Dubi said.

A Peotone airport might bring an estimated $10 billion in revenue to the south suburban economy, he added.

The airport also would relieve pressure on Midway Airport, which Lockwood said is almost "busting at the seams."

Chicago Heights Mayor Angelo "Sam" Ciambrone told the gathered crowd that no more expansions should occur at O'Hare and he called on presidential candidates and political officials "to do what is right" and bring an airport to region.

Jerry Zero, secretary-treasurer of the Teamsters Union Local 705 in Chicago, said Chicago Mayor Richard Daley better "start throwing (money) to people who live out here."

Daley has supported revamping and expanding O'Hare Airport instead of building a third airport in Peotone.

The Dixie Square Mall is located just 20 minutes from the proposed Peotone site, Dubi said. Yet the ramshackle mall has stood vacant for about 23 years.

Frank Watkins, press secretary for Jackson, said rapes, murders, drug use and wild dogs have all been found inside the abandoned building, which is not boarded up.

According to Jackson, the 2nd Congressional District contains a couple dozen malls such as Dixie Square, but the Harvey building is one of the largest symbols of economic decay which could be revitalized if Peotone gained an airport.

"This is just the first step in a journey for justice," Dubi said.

According to Dubi, local clergy are fighting for the third airport because religious scriptures call for compassion to the poor and the airport is a sign of hope for a better quality of life in the South Suburbs.

Kristen Zambo can be reached at (708) 802-8808.

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