Chicago City Council approves Midway Airport buffer zone
Almost 6 years after a runway accident that left a six year old child dead, the city of Chicago is taking steps to improve safety at Midway Airport.
The city will purchase several pieces of property around the airport, then demolish the buildings to set up "runway protection zones".
The Chicago City Council approved the acquiring of these properties during a council meeting on Tuesday.
Four businesses will be lost as a result of the buffer zone.
Sammy's Kitchen, a popular breakfast spot at 5544 West 55th Street for the past 17 years is one of the businesses.
The owner, unhappy with the decision by the city, will not speak publicly about the buffer zones until she hears from the city.
Customers are not holding back.
"It's been such a fixture here and someplace that I've enjoyed coming to for many years," one patron told WGN this morning.
"I hope it does not go," another customer said. "They've got good food here, and the prices are reasonable."
In 2005, a Southwest Airlines jet skidded of a snowy runway into traffic killing a 6 year old boy. The car the boy was a passenger in was crushed under the plan'es nose and fusilage. He was in the car with his parents and his two siblings.
A Mobil gas station and the building that Central Drugs is located in at 5600 W. 63rd st, are also part of the buffer zone acquisition.
City aviation officials told the Sun-Times that these acquisitions are critical -- not only for runway protection zones but also to improve the navigation approach path to the runways.
