The March 13 front page article on military base closings by Curtis Lawrence brings a question to my mind. To Chicago, a $10 billion question.
Let me say first that as a retired supervisor with 20-plus years of attending daily production meetings, two things stand out in my mind. First is how often a group can talk up and down two sides of a problem without ever meeting an agreement or even seeing the other party’s point of view. Second is the tactic of a very bright, young manager of 20 years ago who, during one of these impasse situations, would say, “May I ask a stupid question?” The group would then look at the problem from a fresh point of view.
Perhaps the Tribune would like to publicly ask such a question: Could the Glenview Air Base be operated as a satellite terminal of O’Hare Field?
The two airports are fewer than 12 miles apart. The runways parallel each other. The NorthWestern railway goes by the west side of both. A fast shuttle could be developed. What remains is coordination.
Could then Glenview be used to reduce the bad-weather and peak delays at O’Hare?
