15 Chicago Tribune | Section 1 | Wednesday, November 6, 2019 Founded June 10, 1847 R. Bruce Dold Publisher & Editor-in-Chief John P. McCormick, Editorial Page Editor Margaret Holt, Standards Editor Peter Kendall, Managing Editor Christine W. Taylor, Managing Editor directors of content Jonathon Berlin, Amy Carr, Phil Jurik, Amanda Kaschube, Todd Panagopoulos, George Papajohn, Mary Ellen Podmolik, Elizabeth Wolfe EDITORIALS Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-year, $23.5 billion plan to rebuild Illi- nois’ roads and bridges includes $205.5 million for a highway infrastructure project that has no reason to be. Pritzker has ear- marked the money as a step toward enabling the pipe dream otherwise known as the South Suburban Airport near Peotone. Put another way: The costly road project would serve a potential airport that no one needs and on which no one — except Pritzker and local officials — wants to squander even more money than taxpayers already have. It’s as if Illinois doesn’t have an enormous list of infrastructure projects that even the governor’s $45 billion capital spending plan can’t fund. This threatened waste of $200 million-plus of scarce tax resources is as maddening as the project itself is unnecessary. As you read here in August: Gover- nors have come and gone, thou- sands of acres bought by the state for the site have yet to see a square inch of tarmac paved … and still public officials keep committing Other People’s Money to the notion. Why would Pritzker add his support — and another heap of Other People’s Money — to a project on which potential pa- trons of a pretend airport keep voting no? This time the taxpayer money would go toward land acquisition, engineering and construction of a new interchange at I-57 and Eagle Lake Road. There’s nothing but farmland there now, but Pritzker has fallen in with a bevy of south suburban politicians who prophe- sy a vibrant, bustling third re- gional airport 44 miles south of Chicago. If there were any glint of de- mand for such an airport, the expenditure might be justified. But that demand doesn’t exist, and there’s no sign that it ever will. The airlines have never been on board with the project, and instead have declared themselves all-in with O’Hare International Airport’s massive $8.5 billion expansion and renovations at Midway Airport. Not to worry, Peotone propo- nents say. The new airport will now be hawked as a cargo hub for the e-commerce industry. Build it, and online giant Amazon will come. So far, however, Amazon and other online merchants haven’t warmed to the Peotone pitch. Why? Several reasons. First, most cargo gets shipped by rail or truck because it’s cheaper that way. Items shipped by air tend to involve more expensive goods, like pharmaceuticals and elec- tronics, or perishable products such as seafood. Second, the Chicago area al- ready has abundant air cargo capacity. Chicago Rockford Inter- national Airport saw cargo land- ings rise 55 percent in 2018, and airport officials expect that num- ber to keep rising thanks to part- nerships with Amazon and UPS. Gary Chicago International Air- port also serves cargo flights, and like Rockford has the capacity to handle more of them. At O’Hare, expansion plans include 915,000 square feet of cargo space. Illinois’ transportation needs are massive. It’s not hard to drive through the state and find crum- bling roads and bridges. A better use of taxpayer money is to fix existing infrastructure, rather than spending it on an idea that’s been going nowhere for more than a quarter of a century. There was a time years ago, when the region was strapped for air capacity, that we backed the plan for a third airport at Peotone — if it were built on the shoulders of private investment, and if the airlines committed to operating there. Neither of those preconditions has come to be. As long as that remains the case, the Peotone flight of fancy should remain grounded. And so should any needless spending on an inter- change built for an airport with- out a reason to exist. Gov. Pritzker, we wrote five long years ago that if private sec- tor investors didn’t step forward to build a Peotone airport, Illinois should sell the land and move on. So here’s your three-step agenda: Don’t waste another dime on infrastructure for a pretend air- port. Sell the land — another plus for Illinois taxpayers. Move on to projects that would actually benefit commerce and citizens. Pritzker shouldn’t squander $205M on the Peotone airport folly SCOTT STANTIS Many Americans don’t care about impeachment because they take it as a given that this is the kind of corruption that poli- ticians of all stripes have been doing all along. Many don’t care because it looks like the same partisan warfare that’s been going on forever, just with a different name. … I get that Democrats feel they have to proceed with impeach- ment to protect the Constitution and the rule of law. But there is little chance they will come close to ousting the president. So I hope they set a Thanksgiving deadline. Play the impeachment card through November, have the House vote and then move on to other things. The Senate can quickly dispose of the mat- ter and Democratic candidates can make their best pitches for denying Trump re-election. Elizabeth Bruenig of The Washington Post put her finger on something important in a recent essay on Trump’s evan- gelical voters: the assumption of decline. Many Trump voters take it as a matter of course that for the rest of their lives things are going to get worse for them — economically, spiritually, politically and culturally. They are not the only voters who think this way. Many young voters in their “OK Boomer” T-shirts feel exactly the same, except their concerns are cli- mate change, employment pro- spects and debt. This sense of elite negligence in the face of national decline is the core issue right now. Im- peachment is a distraction from that. As quickly as possible, it’s time to move on. David Brooks, The New York Times WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING “Abrazos, no balazos.” Hugs, not bullets. That has been a cornerstone of Mexican Presi- dent Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s policy toward the country’s murderous drug car- tels. Eradicate poverty, and eradi- cation of the cartels follows, he has insisted. It’s hard to imagine Obrador hewing to his noncon- frontational tack with the cartels after what happened Monday in northern Mexico. Nine members of a Mormon family with dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship were killed during a brutal ambush on their three sport utility vehicles. Six of the dead were children. Members of the LeBaron family say one child was gunned down while trying to flee. The attackers set one of the SUVs ablaze. Inside were twins less than a year old. At this writing, motive remains murky. Authorities say they’re still trying to figure out whether the LeBaron family, which had lived in the scrublands of Mexi- co’s border region for decades, had been specifically targeted or whether the SUVs were mistaken as belonging to a rival gang. In the past, the family has spoken out about criminal gangs that operate in the border states of Chihuahua and Sonora, The New York Times reported. Ten years ago, two LeBaron family mem- bers were abducted and killed after confronting local drug gangs. In extending an offer to help Mexico, President Donald Trump rashly tweeted that the U.S. could join with Mexico to “wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth.” America doesn’t need this entan- glement. Obrador quickly re- jected the offer: “The worst thing you can have is war.” But Obrador’s approach isn’t working either. Last December, the longtime leftist rose to power on a slew of populist pledges, including a “Mexico first” ap- proach toward governance, an end to corruption — and an end to his country’s drug wars. The fulcrum of his anti-cartel policy was a raft of social programs that would alleviate poverty and, in theory, eliminate root causes of cartel mayhem. “Evil needs to be fought with good by addressing the roots that generate violence,” he said after his election. Since that show of naivete, the cartels have displayed the blood-lust evil he’s up against. In October, hundreds of cartel gunmen besieged the city of Culiacan after Mexican security forces arrested the son of con- victed cartel drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera. The siege forced Obrador to release the son. Just days earlier, cartel gunmen ambushed police in the state of Michoacan, killing 14 officers. And now, the massacre in northern Mexico. Obrador shouldn’t need any more cartel ambushes to realize that time has run out on his hugs-not- bullets strategy. The Mexican leader should make this a turn- ing point — for the sake of drug war-weary Mexicans and for the sake of Mexico’s neighbor to the north. Chicagoans are all too aware of the long reach of the cartels. El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel used Chi- cago as a main hub for cocaine and heroin shipments through- out the U.S. and Canada. Some shipments stayed here, though, making Chicago’s gang and drug scourges that much worse. Reacting to the massacre, U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, warned Mexico is “dangerously close to being a failed state.” That should worry not just Obrador and the rest of Mexico, but Americans as well. It’s time for Obrador to overhaul his strategy against the cartels, for the sake of citizens on both sides of the border. Mexico’s president may not want war. But that’s what the vicious cartels have handed him. Mexico’s ‘hugs not bullets’ approach to drug cartels has failed. The massacre of Americans is proof. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, left, with Secretary of Public Security Alfonso Durazo, speaks in Mexico City Tuesday. An attack on a Mormon family in Mexico left nine dead, six of them children. SASHENKA GUTIERREZ/EFE
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15Chicago Tribune | Section 1 | Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Founded June 10, 1847
R.BruceDoldPublisher&Editor-in-Chief
JohnP.McCormick, Editorial Page EditorMargaretHolt, Standards Editor
PeterKendall,ManagingEditorChristineW.Taylor,ManagingEditor
directors of contentJonathonBerlin, AmyCarr, PhilJurik,AmandaKaschube, ToddPanagopoulos,GeorgePapajohn,MaryEllenPodmolik,
ElizabethWolfe
EDITORIALS
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-year,$23.5 billion plan to rebuild Illi-nois’ roads andbridges includes$205.5million for a highwayinfrastructure project that has noreason to be. Pritzker has ear-marked themoney as a steptoward enabling the pipe dreamotherwise knownas the SouthSuburbanAirport near Peotone.Put anotherway: The costly roadprojectwould serve a potentialairport that no oneneeds and onwhichno one—except Pritzkerand local officials—wants tosquander evenmoremoney thantaxpayers alreadyhave.
It’s as if Illinois doesn’t have anenormous list of infrastructureprojects that even the governor’s$45 billion capital spending plancan’t fund. This threatenedwasteof $200million-plus of scarce taxresources is asmaddening as theproject itself is unnecessary. Asyou readhere inAugust: Gover-nors have come and gone, thou-sands of acres bought by the statefor the site have yet to see a squareinch of tarmacpaved…and stillpublic officials keep committingOther People’sMoney to thenotion.
WhywouldPritzker addhissupport—and another heap ofOther People’sMoney— to aproject onwhichpotential pa-trons of a pretend airport keepvoting no?
This time the taxpayermoneywould go toward land acquisition,engineering and construction of anew interchange at I-57 andEagleLakeRoad.There’s nothing butfarmland there now, but Pritzkerhas fallen inwith a bevy of southsuburbanpoliticianswhoprophe-sy a vibrant, bustling third re-gional airport 44miles south ofChicago.
If there were any glint of de-mand for such an airport, theexpendituremight be justified.But that demanddoesn’t exist,and there’s no sign that it everwill. The airlines have never beenonboardwith the project, andinsteadhave declared themselvesall-inwithO’Hare InternationalAirport’smassive $8.5 billionexpansion and renovations atMidwayAirport.
Not toworry, Peotonepropo-
nents say.Thenewairportwillnowbehawkedas a cargohub forthee-commerce industry.Build it,andonline giantAmazonwillcome. So far, however,Amazonandotheronlinemerchantshaven’twarmed to thePeotonepitch.
Why? Several reasons. First,most cargo gets shipped by rail ortruck because it’s cheaper thatway. Items shipped by air tend toinvolvemore expensive goods,like pharmaceuticals and elec-tronics, or perishable productssuch as seafood.
Second, theChicago area al-readyhas abundant air cargo
capacity. ChicagoRockford Inter-national Airport sawcargo land-ings rise 55 percent in 2018, andairport officials expect that num-ber to keep rising thanks to part-nershipswithAmazon andUPS.GaryChicago International Air-port also serves cargo flights, andlikeRockfordhas the capacity tohandlemore of them.AtO’Hare,expansionplans include 915,000square feet of cargo space.
Illinois’ transportation needsaremassive. It’s not hard to drivethrough the state and find crum-bling roads andbridges. A betteruse of taxpayermoney is to fix
existing infrastructure, ratherthan spending it on an idea that’sbeen going nowhere formorethan a quarter of a century.
Therewas a time years ago,when the regionwas strapped forair capacity, thatwebacked theplan for a third airport at Peotone— if itwere built on the shouldersof private investment, and if theairlines committed to operatingthere.
Neither of those preconditionshas come to be. As long as thatremains the case, thePeotoneflight of fancy should remaingrounded. And so should any
needless spending on an inter-change built for an airportwith-out a reason to exist.
Gov. Pritzker,wewrote fivelong years ago that if private sec-tor investors didn’t step forwardto build a Peotone airport, Illinoisshould sell the land andmove on.Sohere’s your three-step agenda:
Don’twaste another dimeoninfrastructure for a pretend air-port.
Sell the land—another plus forIllinois taxpayers.
Move on to projects thatwouldactually benefit commerce andcitizens.
Pritzker shouldn’t squander $205Mon the Peotone airport folly
SCOTT STANTIS
ManyAmericans don’t careabout impeachment becausethey take it as a given that this isthe kind of corruption that poli-ticians of all stripes have beendoing all along.Manydon’t carebecause it looks like the samepartisanwarfare that’s beengoing on forever, justwith adifferent name.…
I get thatDemocrats feel theyhave to proceedwith impeach-ment to protect theConstitutionand the rule of law. But there islittle chance theywill comeclose to ousting the president. SoI hope they set aThanksgivingdeadline. Play the impeachmentcard throughNovember, havetheHouse vote and thenmoveon to other things. The Senatecan quickly dispose of themat-ter andDemocratic candidatescanmake their best pitches fordenyingTrump re-election.
ElizabethBruenig ofTheWashingtonPost put her fingeron something important in arecent essay onTrump’s evan-gelical voters: the assumption ofdecline.ManyTrumpvoterstake it as amatter of course thatfor the rest of their lives thingsare going to getworse for them—economically, spiritually,politically and culturally. Theyare not the only voterswhothink thisway.Many youngvoters in their “OKBoomer”T-shirts feel exactly the same,except their concerns are cli-mate change, employment pro-spects anddebt.
This sense of elite negligencein the face of national decline isthe core issue right now. Im-peachment is a distraction fromthat. As quickly as possible, it’stime tomove on.
DavidBrooks,TheNewYorkTimes
WHAT OTHERSARE SAYING
“Abrazos, no balazos.”Hugs,not bullets. That has been acornerstone ofMexicanPresi-dentAndresManuel LopezObrador’s policy toward thecountry’smurderous drug car-tels. Eradicate poverty, and eradi-cation of the cartels follows, hehas insisted. It’s hard to imagineObrador hewing to his noncon-frontational tackwith the cartelsafterwhat happenedMonday innorthernMexico.
Ninemembers of aMormonfamilywith dualU.S.-Mexicancitizenshipwere killed during abrutal ambush on their threesport utility vehicles. Six of thedeadwere children.Members oftheLeBaron family say one childwas gunneddownwhile trying toflee. The attackers set one of theSUVs ablaze. Insidewere twinsless than a year old.
At thiswriting,motive remainsmurky. Authorities say they’restill trying to figure outwhethertheLeBaron family,which hadlived in the scrublands ofMexi-co’s border region for decades,had been specifically targeted orwhether the SUVsweremistakenas belonging to a rival gang. Inthe past, the family has spokenout about criminal gangs thatoperate in the border states ofChihuahua and Sonora, TheNewYorkTimes reported. Ten yearsago, twoLeBaron familymem-berswere abducted and killedafter confronting local druggangs.
In extending an offer to helpMexico, PresidentDonaldTrumprashly tweeted that theU.S. couldjoinwithMexico to “wageWARon the drug cartels andwipethemoff the face of the earth.”
America doesn’t need this entan-glement. Obrador quickly re-jected the offer: “Theworst thingyou canhave iswar.”
ButObrador’s approach isn’tworking either. LastDecember,the longtime leftist rose to poweron a slewof populist pledges,including a “Mexico first” ap-proach toward governance, anend to corruption—and an endto his country’s drugwars. Thefulcrumof his anti-cartel policywas a raft of social programs thatwould alleviate poverty and, intheory, eliminate root causes ofcartelmayhem. “Evil needs to befoughtwith good by addressingthe roots that generate violence,”he said after his election.
Since that show of naivete,the cartels have displayed the
blood-lust evil he’s up against.InOctober, hundreds of cartelgunmenbesieged the city ofCuliacan afterMexican securityforces arrested the son of con-victed cartel drug lord Joaquin“ElChapo”GuzmanLoera. Thesiege forcedObrador to releasethe son. Just days earlier, cartelgunmen ambushedpolice in thestate ofMichoacan, killing 14officers.
And now, themassacre innorthernMexico. Obradorshouldn’t need anymore cartelambushes to realize that timehas run out on his hugs-not-bullets strategy. TheMexicanleader shouldmake this a turn-ing point — for the sake of drugwar-wearyMexicans and for thesake ofMexico’s neighbor to thenorth.
Chicagoans are all too awareof the long reach of the cartels. ElChapo’s Sinaloa cartel usedChi-cago as amain hub for cocaineandheroin shipments through-out theU.S. andCanada. Someshipments stayed here, though,makingChicago’s gang anddrugscourges thatmuchworse.
Reacting to themassacre,U.S.Sen. Ben Sasse, a RepublicanfromNebraska,warnedMexicois “dangerously close to being afailed state.” That shouldworrynot just Obrador and the rest ofMexico, butAmericans aswell.It’s time forObrador to overhaulhis strategy against the cartels,for the sake of citizens on bothsides of the border.
Mexico’s presidentmay notwantwar. But that’swhat thevicious cartels have handedhim.
Mexico’s ‘hugs not bullets’ approach to drug cartelshas failed. The massacre of Americans is proof.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, left, with Secretary of Public Security Alfonso Durazo,speaks in Mexico City Tuesday. An attack on a Mormon family in Mexico left nine dead, six of them children.
SASHENKA GUTIERREZ/EFE
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