Story posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Resident Circulating O'Hare Survey
By CRAIG ADAMS Journal & Topics Reporter
A Park Ridge resident is collecting responses to an email questionnaire with hopes of presenting the results to Mayor Dave Schmidt.
Gene Spanos sent out the 13 questions to about 100 families, he said. He hopes word of mouth and residents forwarding the questions to each other will allow it to spread throughout the city.
"We've got 38,000 residents," he said. "If we could just get half of that, that would be great."
He is currently receiving two or three responses each day; responses he tries to check to make sure they are valid Park Ridge residents. "When the people email it to me, I'm talking to them," he said. "I'll ask them what ward they are in." Spanos plans to remove all names from the survey before submitting the responses.
He hopes to hear from all sections of the city, including wards that are now seeing less air traffic after the opening of runway 9L/27R.
"It's the health issue and the right to breath clean air," he said, explaining that the air traffic affects all wards of the city.
He cited cancer studies that indicate 400 people in the collar communities around O'Hare are diagnosed with some form of cancer each year.
Spanos does not know how many responses he needs for his survey to be statistically valid, but will report the total number to Schmidt when he presents the results. He hopes Schmidt will take the report and meet with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley regarding the issues.
Although Spanos currently lives in the sixth ward, under the flight path for the new runway, his house is for sale. "I'm looking to get out of the ambush runway here," he said. "I'm looking to move into the first ward."
He also hopes to secure a position on the city's newly created O'Hare Airport Commission. "I submitted my application," he said. He has an interview with the Mayor's Advisory Board on June 16 for that post.
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