Here's what I've heard:
The demolition was done illegally, literally under cover of darkness; the FAA was not even alerted so that a NOTAM could be issued, and he'd been planning this move, and trying to get support for it ,long before 2001.
To my eyes, it looks like a classic land grab, combined with a play for the Chicken Little voter bloc.
Unless they build a plane-proof dome over the whole thing, the city will never be any safer from aerial attack of any kind than it was when the airport was active, with locals in the air helping keep an eye out for anything odd.
The weak points (as proven on 9/11) were, and are still, the large airports serving the major carriers and large aircraft, not little Meigs Field, which must've been like a crown jewel for Chicago. It's a crime, and a shame.
http://64.143.36.15/html/history/Meigs_ ... tml#recent Evoking "National Security" in these strange times seems to excuse just about anything....