Where's the Money Going?

To the Olympics of course! Daley is shortchanging basic maintenance at a facility that will be expected to handle millions upon millions of extra tourists should Chicago actually win the games. But this article is chock full of corrupting goodness:

• Mayor Richard Daley today downplayed safety violations federal officials recently found at O'Hare International Airport, calling them "not very significant."
  
  The Federal Aviation Administration said it found numerous violations at the airport during routine inspections last month that endanger airplanes at takeoffs and landings. The violations ranged from debris on runways to excessive amounts of tall grass and weeds that create hazards for planes by attracting birds and other wildlife.
  
  A warning notice from the FAA to the city said the violations show the airport is seriously out of compliance with federal aviation law. The notice also criticized the Department of Aviation for what it called a series of false statements about its self-inspection program.

The in-depth article is damning beyond belief:

• A warning notice from the FAA to Chicago said the inspections show that O'Hare is seriously out of compliance with federal aviation law. The notice, called a "letter of correction," also chastised the Chicago Department of Aviation for what the federal agency called a pattern of false statements in its self-inspection program.
• FAA inspectors found rocks, garbage and wood survey stakes used during construction on runways and taxiways at O'Hare
• The problems at O'Hare the FAA cited in its warning notice are considered major violations -- not just housekeeping issues
• Chicago Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino was out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment
• O'Hare air-traffic controller Craig Burzych said he noticed that in the last week the city has temporarily shut down runways for up to 45 minutes at a time during daylight hours to carry out major inspections for debris.

Pattern of false statements? Major violations? Shut down runways for 45 minutes at a time? These are runways were talking about, revenue generators at something like $1,000 per takeoff and/or landing. And Daley is pissing away $100,000 every time his sweeper crew has to go out and cleanup what should have been done correctly during the nighttime sweep. Not to mention he's obviously skipping the grass cutting that's supposed to keep it under 6" in height, which in turn promotes bugs, which attracts birds, which leads to bird-strikes that can end up covering runways with all sorts of airplane and bird parts which can be sucked into engines necessitating further sweeps and runway shut downs...it's a convoluted circle.

And Andolino is "out of town?" How Daley-esque.