Thursday, January 3, 2008
News / Clout City A plan in the crosswinds
Posted by Mick Dumke on Thu, Jan 3, 2008 at 8:42 PM
When 42nd Ward alderman Brendan Reilly agreed last month to back plans by Children’s Memorial Hospital to build a new facility downtown, he had one condition: that hospital officials review the safety of a proposed rooftop helipad with a pair of outside experts hired by area residents.
Mayor Daley responded a couple days later by suggesting that Reilly and critics of the plan were more concerned about noise the helicopters would make than about the lives of children. In a subsequent interview, Reilly politely returned the put-down. “I knew the mayor was supportive of the helipad portion of the project,” Reilly said. “Our only real difference of opinion here is that I think the city has an obligation to show that this is not a risk to public safety before we approve it.”
Behind the political jousting, there do appear to be serious questions. The two experts commissioned by the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR) are not exactly slouches. One of them, Mark Eugene Doub, is a former aircraft accident investigator and trainer for the U.S. Department of Transportation; the other, Thomas C. Corke, is a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at Notre Dame.
The hospital’s plan [PDF] “paints a very rosy picture of rooftop heliport operations” though it would require pilots to “fly into a hostile physical environment,” Doub writes in his analysis. According to him, the hospital’s plan doesn’t provide adequate emergency landing space, and the proposed helipad is too small and, at 411 feet, too high to be safe for certain helicopters and weather conditions. He concludes that “Children’s Memorial Hospital has not addressed all of the issues necessary to operate this heliport in a manner consistent with current aviation safety practices.”
Corke focuses on a study of area wind patterns commissioned by the hospital. Parts of the hospital’s study, Corke writes, “are contrary to all good engineering approaches” and simply lack reliable data. This study “cannot be used by anyone—including Children’s Memorial Hospital or the City of Chicago—to conclude that it would be safe to use the proposed rooftop airport.”
Julie Pesch, a spokesman for the hospital, notes that its wind study was conducted by Rowan Williams Davies Irwin, a renowned international wind and environmental engineering firm, and that leading aviation consultant and airport planner Landrum & Brown also worked on the helipad plan. “They tell us it’s safe,” she says. “Safety is always our biggest concern.”
She adds that neither Doub nor Corke actually collected data on the conditions of the area—they simply reviewed and critiqued what the hospital's consultants did. “It’s not like they went out and did their own noise and wind studies.”
The City Council’s Committee on Zoning is scheduled to consider the plan on January 24, and if it passes, the full council could vote on it as soon as February. At that point, Pesch says, the Illinois Department of Transportation would conduct its own safety analysis. “But they can’t do it unless the city allows us to build.”
Traditionally the City Council doesn’t approve projects that don’t have the local alderman’s consent, but if Reilly ends up rejecting the helipad plan—he says he doesn't expect to, though the conversation he asked for hasn’t taken place so far—Daley might start lining up the votes to go around him.
Pesch doesn’t foresee any snags. “We’re confident we’ll be allowed to have the heliport,” she says.
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“They tell us it’s safe,†she says. “Safety is always our biggest concern.†I hope so. Any contingency plans for when the helicopter misses its target and crashes into the building next door?
Reilly's finding out what the other 49 alderman already know. Daley screws you daily. Brendoan, seriously, you rookie. Didn't you know alderman have no say in city council. You aldercreatures are nothing more than the mayors rubber stamps. Get use to being screwed by Richie, Mr. 42nd ward rubber stamp.
The guy hasn't been in office a year. From my view up north, I'd say he's doing well as a Alderman so far. If it wasn't for the fact our Alderman would basically turn downtown into his own personal Hell Hole, I'd switch Alderman in a heartbeat.
"Traditionally the City Council doesn’t approve projects that don’t have the local alderman’s consent, but if Reilly ends up rejecting the helipad plan ... Daley might start lining up the votes to go around him." Daley would be shooting himself in the foot. If Daley acts to undermine so-called "aldermanic privilege" he could inadvertently do more to promote independence in City Council than decades of self-appointed progressive putzes. Daley will deal with Reilly. Reilly is now and will be in favor of this before it comes to a vote.
Link to the Doub report: http://www.soarchicago.org/News_Views/details.cfm?NID=50 Link to the Corke report: http://www.soarchicago.org/News_Views/details.cfm?NID=49
Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR) http://www.soarchicago.org
Citizens interested in exercising their Right to Vote can find important information here: http://www.chicagoelections.com/voterinfo/default.aspx
An alternative plan would be to let the helicopters land in the center of the jogging track at Lake Shore Park, just around the corner. For years, Children's was happy with an arrangement where helicopters could land in nearby Oz Park. I am sure the public would be thrilled to help Children's save lives by once again allowing them to land in a public space, and I would think Children's would be equally thrilled, since they would save upwards of a million dollars on a helipad, money which could go more directly to children's medical care.
Brendan, another good solution might be to create a Meigs Field where the helicopters could land and then send patients on a short ride to Children's Memorial. Run that by Daley.
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