Stifling an Opportunity

By BOB HERBERT
NYT

Washington

I asked Jesse Jackson Jr., a Democratic congressman whose district includes much of the South Side of Chicago, why he had become so committed to the creation of a third Chicago-area airport several miles south of his district.

The short answer was jobs. He noted that the O’Hare airport had opened to commercial traffic more than a half-century ago and was still growing.

“An airport is a very different public-works project than a bridge or a road,” he said. “The jobs that come with the development of an airport range from construction to taxicab drivers, to the hotel and motel industry, to Avis and Hertz, which buy cars by the fleet, to Federal Express and DHL, and all those others who staff and manage the airport. Corporate headquarters frequently locate near an airport.

“In terms of employment, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

(More here.)