With cemetery just a graveyard, O'Hare expansion soars

Maybe by osmosis, Monsieur Richard Daley learned some new executive tricks during his most recent European trip. It was paid for by a management consulting firm … although the picture of the mayor trying to maneuver a bicycle made it look as though he was shilling for Schwinn.

When he got home, the mayor must have felt like he'd been smeared with French lavender honey and elected beekeeper. The Chicago Transit Authority was about to cave in. Daley was being called a grave robber after the courts ruled he could unearth a Northwest suburban cemetery to make room for O'Hare International Airport runways. And the Bears still needed a quarterback who could hold on to the ball.

The Bears can handle their own problems, and Gov. Blagojevich keenly deferred the CTA disaster by giving transit agency officials a small advance on their allowance.

But the fight goes on to stop excavation of a 158-year-old graveyard that the city claims is required for O'Hare expansion. A federal appeals court decided last week that Chicago officials could roll in the bulldozers, after ruling that cemeteries are not really religious entities.

Of course, the 1,400 occupants of St. Johannes Cemetery are in no position to dispute that conclusion. Neither are the hundreds of nearby property owners who are on the losing side of eminent domain, even though the city is condemning homes located outside the city.

Doesn't St. Johannes sound kind of religious to you? Maybe it's just coincidence that there is a big cross on display out there. The gravestones that are adorned with angels, outstretched hands and other Christian-like logos must have been put there by a previous owner.

If the cemetery is no longer dedicated to "the founders of our beloved church," St. John's Evangelical Church in Bensenville, then gravediggers should haul away the granite proclamation.

It is true that you can't always tell the underlying purpose of a piece of land just by looking at it. A few years ago, a lot of people thought that Chicago had a lakefront airport known as Meigs Field. But overnight, Mayor Daley rendered it into a giant tic-tac-toe board and then it disappeared forever.

In the case of St. Johannes Cemetery, the mayor sounds as though he'll be more respectful. Who knows? If the deceased are dug up and reburied somewhere within Chicago's city limits, then maybe their voting rights will be restored, too.

The mayor returned home from Europe just as questions were being raised as to his whereabouts. How could he be on a Parisian holiday during such a tumultuous time? He deftly fielded questions last week about the all of the crises.

At one point Mr. Daley told reporters, "I hope everyone sets aside their eagles."

That's what I heard the mayor say. "I hope everyone sets aside their eagles."

At first I thought maybe it was jet lag talking or the mayor had some high-sulfite Bordeaux on the flight home.

"I hope everyone sets aside their eagles," he said.

Was the mayor actually suggesting that some eagles, our beloved and threatened national birds, would also have to be displaced in order to build six new O'Hare runways and a new western terminal?

Digging up a few hundred dead people would produce whimpers compared to the ear-shattering yelps from animal rights activists if the city had to "set aside" some eagles.

It sure sounded like the mayor said, "I hope everyone sets aside their eagles."

So I went to the video to double check, just in case it was the mayor's enunciation DNA acting up.

"I hope everyone sets aside their eagles," said the mayor.

Rewind. More volume.

"I hope everyone sets aside their eagles."

Rewind. Less bass, more tone. Full volume.

"I hope everyone sets aside their egos."

The mayor wasn't talking about eagles after all. It was the word "egos," but Daley's Chicagoese resulted in the letter L being softly inserted into the world.

He was actually suggesting that the egos of state legislators be checked at the door of the General Assembly when they try to come up with a long-term funding solution for the CTA.

That is sound advice regardless of the transit involved, whether it's on four wheels, the rails … or whether it soars like an eagle.

Chuck Goudie, whose column appears each Monday, is the chief investigative reporter at ABC7 News in Chicago. The views in this column are his own and not those of WLS-TV. He can be reached at chuckgoudie@gmail.com